164 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [Gljpta. 



of Heracleum sphotidylium. Marquand records it from the Lands End dis- 

 trict; and IMarshall says (Entoni. 1872-3, p. 432) that Francis Wallcer found 

 G. mcfisura/or in the Isle of ^lan. 



An unexplained instance of tliis species' oviposition upon plants {cf. 

 Ichn. Brit. i. xxiii) is given in P]nt. Rec. 1900, p. 293, by Mr. P. C. Reid, 

 who, writing from Peering Bury, near Kelvedon, on July 30th, says "I was 

 yesterday searching lettuce heads for larvae oi Hecaiera dysodta, and, notic- 

 ing numbers of the enclosed ichneumon on the wing, I watched them for 

 nearly an hour. I never saw one in the act of stinging a larva, although 

 there were several lying fully exposed, but I noticed many of them ovi- 

 positing in the flowers and seed-vessels of the lettuce plants themselves. 

 .... Though I opened several of the flowers and examined them under 

 a glass, I could find no lepidopterous egg or larva of any sort." No single 

 instance has ever before been brought forward of phytophagous larvae 

 among the Ichneumonidae, and those of Braconidae mentioned by West- 

 wood (Mod. Class, ii. 144) were purely supposititious. I am consequently 

 still lead, as I stated at the time, to consider that some error crept into 

 Mr. Reid's statement, in spite of the very close observation he shows : the 

 main point appears to be that no egg of the Glyptae is mentioned and 

 probably therefore he mistook mere abdominal contortions for the act 

 of oviposition.* 



26. rufata, Bridg. 



Glypta rufata, Bridg. Trans. Ent. Soc. 1887, p. 378, g 2 : cf. Trans. Norf. 

 Soc. V, p. 71. 



A shining, punctate, black species with the abdomen and legs mainly 

 red. Head transverse and constricted behind the eyes ; palpi and the 

 apex of the clypeus piceous, the latter with no dense pubescence ; frons 

 mutic. Antennae three-quarters the length of the body, with the flagellum 

 rufescent beneath, lliorax immaculate with the notauli not very distinct 

 anteriocly ; mesopleurae shining and punctate, much more sparsely api- 

 cally ; metanotum nitidulous, transversely rugose, with five more or less 

 distinct areae. Scutellum black. Abdomen red with the anus more or 

 less, and usually the segments faintly transversely, infuscate ; basal seg- 

 ment a little longer than broad with the carinae basally distinct and api- 

 cally obsolete ; second and third segments one-fourth broader than long; 

 terebra hardly shorter than the abdomen. Legs red with the apices of 

 the tibiae and of the tarsal joints, as well as a band before the base of the 

 former, slightly infuscate ; tarsal claws pectinate. Wings basally flaves- 

 cent with the tegulae red, stigma of 9 pale and of ^ infuscate ; trans- 

 verse anal nervure intercepted below the centre and one-third from the 

 bottom. Length, 5 — 6 mm. 



Bridgman sa}-s that this very distinctly coloured species somewhat 

 resembles G. monoccru^, but that the frons bears no horn, the legs are 

 differently coloured and their claws are distinctly pectinate. Thomson, in 

 a note (O. E. 1352), adds that he has seen the type and considers it most 

 closely allied with G. mej/sura/or. 



* Glypta subcovnuta, Grav. (I.E. iii. 15, rf ? ), is recorded as British in Curtis' Guide, but figures in 

 none of our later catalogues, nor has anyone recognised it on the Continent. It is said to be similar in 

 size and shape to G. meiisurator, Gtav., but with the terebra longer and frons acuminate. Both 

 I'.ridgnian (Trans. Norf. Soc. v. p. 67) and Schniiedeknecht (Opusc. Ichn. 1223) are satisfied to suppose 

 it a form of that species. Thomson (O. E. xiii. 1337) also shortly refers to it. 



