Po/rsp/ii/tc/ii.] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 131 



fimily attached by each extremity of its body to the under side of the 

 spider's thorax, between the articulations of the legs. He brought them 

 immediately to me, and we placed them in a dry phial-bottle, with a few 

 Aphides for food, and tied a piece of muslin over its mouth. The spider 

 soon made a web in which the Aphides became entangled, and thus they 

 remained for the rest of the day without any material change, except that 

 at one time the lar\-a had nearly emptied the body of the spider, and had 

 himself become green ; but this was only a temporary change, for shortly 

 after he resumed his original opaque-white hue. On the following morn- 

 ing he had spun himself up in a long narrow orange cocoon, attached to 

 the web of the spider, and had changed into a pupa; while all that 

 remained of his unfortunate companion was a shrivelled skin lying at the 

 bottom of the bottle. On July 14th the imago emerged from the cocoon in 

 the shape of the ichneumon which I now send, together with the aforesaid 

 cocoon and the mortal remains of the spider." 'Fo this Fitch adds that 

 the ichneumon is most closely related to Polysphincta pallidipes, Holmgr., 

 but does not exactly agree with the description of that species: "whether 

 it is a variety of this or a new species must be left for further considera- 

 ation," which it never received. He adds that the cocoon is oat-shaped, 

 ochreous and quite opaque ; and that the spider was probably Epeira 

 cuairbilina, Clerck. 



The typical P. gracilis was not, however, introduced as British till 1887, 

 when Bridgman brought it forward (Trans. Ent.Soc. p. 377) on the strength 

 of a female of " this very distinct species" taken by Champion at Avie- 

 more in Scotland. Bignell has bred it in south Devon on i8th June from 

 the common spider, Jleta segj?ientata, Clerck., upon which he says it is 

 ektoparasitic. I have a full series of both sexes in Capron's collection, 

 probablv taken at Shcre in Surrev. 



ACRODACTYLA, Haliday. 



Hal. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 117; Symphylus, Forst. Verb. pr. Rheinl. 1868, 

 p. 171. 



Face parallel-sided, strongly nitidulous and obsoletely punctulate ; cly- 

 peus strongly transverse, basally elevated, apically deplanate and glabrous ; 

 cheeks very narrow and not short ; frons centrally impressed, glabrous 

 and nitidulous ; occiput finely bordered basally ; eyes very prominent. 

 Scape not deeply excised ; flagellar joints pilose and simple. Mesonotum 

 transversely cristulate on either side before the notauli, which are deeply 

 impressed, elongate and discally coalesced. Scutellum glabrous, nitidu- 

 lous, hardly convex and apically rounded. Abdomen basally attenuate 

 with the central segments very obsoletely impressed and subparallel-sided; 

 basal segment discally canaliculate throughout, with spiracles before its 

 centre ; anus of 9 apically cleft beneath ; terebra shortly exserted. Legs 

 slender with the femora simple ; tarsi apically incrassate, the claws beneath 

 with a dilated obtuse lobe. Wings normal with stigma somewhat narrow 

 and areolet entirely wanting ; apical abscissa of the radius straight and 

 twice longer than the basal ; nervellus wanting, its median ner\ure strongly 

 curved, obsolete basally and wanting apically beyond the oblique second 

 recurrent. 



"The species of this little group are closely allied to Polysphiticla (and 

 to P. percontatoria in particular), but may be distinguished by the smoother 

 abdomen attenuate at the base, the narrower stigma, and the structure of the 



K2 



