240 



BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 



[PJirdodiadiis 



twelve species, all of which with possibly a single exception are now 

 known as British. But his genus has been considerably distributed by 

 subsequent authors and only three of the original species and the anoma- 

 lous P. conunus--' are now retained therein. Their subfusiforni abdomen 

 and thorax, attenuated basal segment and slender legs certainly ally them 

 with the Cryptinae, A\hile the occasionally subcompressed anus resembles 

 thdii oi ihe Bajichides ; they are, in particular, very liable to be mistaken 

 for the Tryphonidous Mcsokii, from which it is difficult to instance any 

 male distinction, though the exserted terebra renders the females obvious. 

 The species are badly differentiated, owing to the lack of structural modi- 

 fication and instability of colour, upon wliich tlie earlier (and some of the 

 modern) authors too much rely. 



(10) 



(5) 

 (4) 

 (3) 



(2) 



(7) 

 (6) 

 (9) 

 (8) 

 (I) 



Table of Species. 



1. Genal costa inflexed; scutellum part- 



ly flavous. 



2. Cheeks as long as breadth of base 



of mandibles. 



3. Brightly flavous-marked ; fiagellum 



longer and mainly red 



4. Obsoletely whitish-marked ; flagelUim 



shorter and infuscate 



5. Cheeks much shorter than breadth of 



base of mandibles. 



6. Mesonotum discally rufescent ; ventral 



plica flavous 



7. Mesonotum immaculate ; ventral plica 



infuscate. 



8. Stouter ; hind femora black before 



apex 



9. Slenderer ; hind femora usuall}' im- 



maculate red 

 10. Genal costa continuous ; scutellum 

 entirely black 



1. POLYZONIAS, Forst. 



2. CORYPHAEUS, Grav. 



3. ORNATUS, Desv. 



4. GENICULATUS, Tho7nS. 



5. onscuRUs, Desv. 



6. ASTUTUs, Grav. 



* Phvtoimktus cor\inus, Gr. I.E. ii. 937, ? . 



? . Head with the cheeks subbuccate ; palpi and centre of mandibles stramineous. Antennae, 

 thorax and scutellum immaculate. Abdomen fusiform, as long as head and thora.x and very slightly 

 narrower than the latter, becoming somewhat compressed towards the anus ; first segment gradually 

 narrowed towards the base, twice lunger than broad ; terebra nearly as long as abdomen Legs red 

 with all the coxae, and the apices of the hind tibiae, black ; posterior tarsi nigrescent. Wings very 

 slightly clouded ; stigma, radius and tegulae infuscate, radix stramineous ; areolet irregularly trian- 

 gular and sessile. Length, g mm. 



Gravenhorst says this species differs from the remainder of tlie species of Phytotlietus in its larger 

 head and subquadrate vertex, in which it resembles the .XoriJes; and from P. (Cryptopimpla) calceo- 

 lata, with which it otherwise agrees and is given as synonymous by Kirchner, besides the shape of 

 the head, in having the first segment less constricted basally. Scimiiedeknecht (O.L 1256, following 

 Taschenberg, Z.G.N. 1863. p. 294) says that it cannot appertain to the present genus on account of 

 its almost cubical head and completely areated metathorax. 



The savan<; are still utterly ignorant of this insect, Desvignes claimed to possess it in his collection 

 from Britain in 1856; and in his " Lepidoptera of Dorsetshire," C. W. Dale is good enough to inform 

 us that he captured a specimen on 21SI June, 1867, at Glanvilles Wooton (p. 77) ; this was in Broad 

 Alders, as the same author says in his " History " of that parish (p. 69), wherein he terms this 

 species " Very rare " ! It is now in the Dale Collection in the Oxford Museum, 



