108 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [Piiupla. 



narrowed behind the unusually emarginatc eyes; vertex narrow and 

 smooth ; frons smooth, hardly broader than the obsoletely punctate face 

 and impressed above the scrobes ; cheeks very short, mandibles piceous ; 

 clypeus broadly depressed and not apically emarginate ; j)alpi pale. An- 

 tennae apically subclavate, somewhat elongate, with scape and pedicellus 

 black ; flagellum stramineous beneath with the joints apically infuscate. 

 Thorax shining and ver}- finely pubescent with a fulvous callosity before 

 the radix ; mesonotum shining and extremely finely punctate, notauli 

 wanting in 9 , finely impressed in J ; mesosternum subglabrous ; meta- 

 notum shining, 'basally hardly punctate, more distinctly though sparsely 

 and finely laterally ; areola somewhat broad, laterally distinct, apically 

 incomplete and deplanate ; petiolar region not costate ; spiracles small, 

 rotund-oval. Scutellum immaculate, Abdomen parallel-sided, con- 

 stricted at base and apex, somewhat flat ; segments longitudinally sub- 

 rugose, incisures deeply impressed, central tubercles and lateral impress- 

 ions inconspicuous ; basal segment not short, postpetiole longer than 

 broad ; ^ ventral valvulae distinctly exserted ; terebra slender, straight 

 and hardly as long as the basal segment. Legs stout, fulvous with the 

 base of the front, and small spots on the posterior coxae, and apices of 

 the femora, black ; hind tibiae and tarsi black, former white-banded before 

 the base, latter with the four first joints basally white ; calcaria con- 

 colorous. Wings not clouded ; nervures and stigma infuscate, the latter 

 narrow and centrally paler with a basal white spot, or with stigma broad 

 and testaceous ; tegulae pale ; areolet subpentagonal, sessile ; nervellus 

 strongly postfurcal and intercepting far above the centre. Length, 6 — 

 1 1 mm. 



These two species have not before been regarded as synonymous, but I 

 consider that little doubt can be entertained upon the point : the only 

 distinctions I can trace after placing the original descriptions of both 

 side by side is that Kriechbaumer terms the antennae filiform with the 

 flagellum ferrugineous beneath, whereas in P. davicornis they are dis- 

 tinctly explanate towards the apices and stramineous below ; the former 

 describes the stigma as infuscate and narrow, whereas Thomson gives it 

 as testaceous and somewhat broad, but in my 9 it is clear testaceous and 

 in the $ ^ infuscate, and of normal breadth in both sexes ; Thomson 

 does not refer to the longitudinal coalescence of the abdominal punctura- 

 tion, which is distinct in my $ $ but wanting in the 9 ; the latter also 

 gives many points entirely ignored by Kriechbaumer, and his description is 

 so excellent as to leave not the smallest doubt regarding its application 

 to the British examples, which differ from both very slightly : the $ $ 

 in having all the coxae black, with the stigma and tegulae piceous and 

 the 9 in having the anterior coxae red, the hind ones entirely black, the 

 stigma testaceous, with the tegulae and apical margin of the frenum 

 bright stramineous. It will be seen from the above description of both 

 sexes how little the $ , which has not been before adequately described 

 and is merely referred to in Opusc. Ichn., differs from the 9 • 



Kriechbaumer' s species is said to bear as much affinity to Apcchtis as to 

 Itopkctis ; and this is the strongest reason, perhaps, for considering it 

 distinct from P. davicornis, which is most undoubtedly a member of the 

 latter subgenus, as placed by Thomson, and the specimens in my collec- 

 tion appear to agree with /. despeda, Forst., though no mention is made 

 of the very peculiar 9 frenum, an organ so rarely presenting any modi- 

 fication as to be almost unknown in descriptions. 



