-^=--dc^' 



88 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [Ptnipla. 



too, often taken by sweeping low herbage and reeds, sometimes after 

 dark, and a few of my hundred and fifty specimens were beaten from 

 sallow, aspen and birch in the spring ; it docs not appear to especially 

 affect salt-marshes, though I have swept the males there in early June. 

 Among the males of the smaller species of this genus those of the present 

 are by far the commonest in Britain. 1 have noticed that the female is 

 often seen upon the seeding Angelica plants, after all the blossom has 

 fallen; but whether she be searching for some caterpillars feeding on the 

 seeds {? Eupiihecin albiptiticiafa, E. in'signan'a, E. coronata, etc.) or seek- 

 ing Sjrphid larvae ?awongih.e A'ph.id, similar to Aphis rumicis, so abundant 



on the stem just beneath the 

 seeds, I have been unable to 

 ascertain." My rough sketch 

 will give some idea of the 

 peculiar angle at which the 

 antennae, wings and abdomen 

 are habitually held at rest. 



" Dr. Giraud, in his '• Notice sur les deformations gallifonnes du Triticum repens et sur les insectes 

 qui !es habitant" (Verh. z.-b. Ges. 1863, pp. 12S9-96), throws out a hint respecting the early stages 

 of tliis species, which might be followed up with considerable economic advantage. Both sexes 

 were obtained in very great numbers by him from galls on T. repens in the high ground of Laaer- 

 berg, near Vienna, and more sparingly in Lower Austria; these were perhaps, but very uncertainly, 

 made by a small Dipteron, named by Schiner Ochtiphila polystigma, Mg., which also occurs in 

 Britain. He says, however, that the I'impla larva is so frequent in the two hundred or more galls 

 that he examined that, lacking direct knowledge of their maker, one might suppose these larvae to 

 be the legitimate proprietors; and adds " Une circonstance curieuse et que je n'ai eu occasion 

 d'observer ailleurs que bien rarement, c'est que cette larve parait tirer la plus grande partie de son 

 alimentation de la plante meme. C'est la une derogation aux lois ordinaires qui regissent reconomie 

 des parasites, mais cette exception me parait inconstestable et plusieurs especes, de genres tr^s 

 differents, en fournissent des exemples. Surpris de trouver ces larves constamment seules dans le 

 canal des galles, sans qu'il me fut possible de reconnaitre la moindre trace de celles que je devais 

 supposer leur avoir servi de pature, j'ai repete nies recherches a une epoque de I'ann^e ou je pouvais 

 esperer de les rencontrer encore dans leur jeunesse. Dfes le mois d'aout, je les ai vues a divers 

 degres de developpement et souvent n'ayant encore que le tiers ou meme le quart de leur taille a 

 I'etat adulte ; mais, ici encore, il n'y avait aucun vestige de la victime que je cherchais. Les larves 

 se trouvaient, le corps etendu en ligne droite, dans une cavite proportionnee a leur volume et tout-a- 

 fait remplie par elles. ... Si Ton tient conipte de I'absence de toute victime pendant que la larve 

 est encore jeune et continue a se developper, commede I'agrandiseinent de la cavite qui la renferme 

 a mesure que sa croissance augmente, on ue pent se refuser d'admettre que la larve ne soit phyto- 

 phage, au moins pendant une grande partie de son existence. Quoiqu'il en soit, I'insecte producteur 

 de la galle a dCi perir des les premiers jours de I'eclosion de larve, ou peut-etre meme a I'ctat d'oeuf." 

 He suggests that the Piiiipla takes to a phytophagous diet after demolishing its small and insufficient 

 host during its own early stages, which is altogether contrary to one's established ideas ; we must, 

 however, remember that " there is nothing fixed in Nature " [cf. also E.M.M. 1877, p. 201). 



The Piinpla larva living in these galls he figures (I.e. pi. xxii, fig. 2a) and describes as apodous, 

 glabrous, subdeplanate and flavidous white. The head is small, oval and scaly, with the face bearing 

 some slight and arcuate impressions; the labrum is large, ovoid, distinctly circumscribed by a fine 

 and impressed line, its broad apex forming a free margin, which is rufescent and has the appearance 

 of a small comb composed of seven teeth, of which the intermediate are more projecting ; the lower 

 lip is concealed in part by the labrum on which it rests; the mandibles ate basally indicated by two 

 red marks and apically concealed beneath the labrum ; there are also very fine and conical antennae, 

 indistinctly composed of three joints. Thirteen well-marked segments, with an outstanding lateral 

 fold, preceded by a longitudinal depression, at the base of which are the spiracles in the form of 

 nine pairs of little marks. Of these the first are on first thoracic segment and the remainder on the 

 eight abdominal ; the intermediate segments discally form an undulating or somewhat uneven sur- 

 face. Length, 5 mm. 



The larva is sometimes nine months in that condition and constructs no cocoon in which to pupate; 

 Giraud only noticed its emergence from the end of March to the beginning of May. 



The S i emerging from these larvae closely resemble Ephiaites {I'iiiipUi) inanis and have, like it, 

 the front femora emarginate ; but they differ in their more slender body, less stout legs, etc. The 

 antennae are dull brown beyond the second joint above, and nigrescent beneath; the basal joint is 

 entirely black, whereas in E. inams it is white-marked. The legs are testaceous-flavidous and not 

 rufescent; front coxae nearly entirely black, intermediate only basally black, hind ones entirely 

 black or very rarely dull red with their posterior surface nigrescent ; all the trochanters and the 

 hind tibiae whitish or very pale flavous, the latter with their apices and a mark near their base 

 nigrescent ; hind tarsi infuscate with the basal half of the lirst and base of the following joints pale. 

 The emargination of the front femora, too, is somewhat difl'erent : it is more gradual and not undulat- 

 ing orbisinuate, as in E. inanis, and further the tibiae are a little less arcuate. Finally, the meta- 

 tliorax and basal segment are less rugulose, with the latter distinctly narrower and less strongly 

 carinate discally. 



I have translated the c? description in extenso since it is most important economically that there 

 should be no mistake respecting the synonymy of these species which Giraud terms P. aramincllae, 

 Gray., and I am quite sure that he really refers to P. detrita, Holmgr. He remarks that, although 

 the ? ? varied greatly in size, they were all undoubtedly co-specific. 



