VI PREFACE. 



place in my uniform scheme of description, as more and more details are 

 given by the subsequent authors consulted in turn (paying especial atten- 

 tion to those who examined the type specimens). Having obtained as 

 perfect an account of the species as is available, I proceed to firstly 

 compare with it any itisects I may possess purporting to belong to that 

 species, and secondly to identify from it and them my own insects. 

 Having satisfied myself upon the correctness of this identification, I am 

 enabled to fill in any omissions in the published descriptions which appear 

 necessary or advisable, and to add such points as strike me as aids to 

 determination. What want we then with the ambiguous, inadequate and 

 often useless original description ? Cf. Verrall's " Pulex pallide piceo- 

 fusca ! " 1 



The only alteration in the present volume is the fuller references to the 

 details of economy and capture, which one reviewer wisely requested ; 

 these were omitted in the previous volume, because in every case I 

 satisfied myself that no more could be learned by conferring the source 

 whence I took them. It is also worthy of note that, though hundreds of 

 specimens have since passed through my hands, not a single addition to 

 our indigenous Ichneumoninae has hitherto been noticed. The opposite 

 sex of one species has, however, been for the first time described^ and a 

 misnomer corrected. •* 



On the whole the Continental notices were much more satisfactory 

 than the home ones, and the author is sure that in its broadest sense, 

 " Heller ikke i entomologiske Boger fornaegter Englaendernes praktiske 

 Sans sig."*- 



It is a great pleasure to me to again thank those who have so very 

 kindly assisted me in the elucidation of the present volume, for " Ich- 

 neumonidum cognitio natura difificilis et spinosa est," and it is only by 

 consensus of observation that we can arrive at a thorough knowledge of 



1 Presidential Address, Ent. Soc. 1900. 



2 ■■ On HurUhncumon htracUanac, Bridg., with a Description of the Male " (E.M.M. 1904, p. 37). 



3 " Ichnciiinon inquinatus, Wesm., and Ambtytelcs microcephalus, Steph." (lib. cit. p. 239). 



4 Review in " Flora og Fauna Aarbog " (Silkeborg ; 1904, p. 56). 



