INTRODUCTION 



It is by no means surprising lliat the old authors cjuite failed to do 

 any good work upon such closely allied and puzzling insects as those 

 constituting the Cryptinae, and even (Iravenhorst's tomes would have been 

 practically useless were it not that his types remained available for sub- 

 sequent authors to elucidate. I'hus we fmd nothing of value was jiuhlished 

 between 1829, when his European Ichneumons appeared, and 1S65, when 

 Taschenberg redescribed his types with greater attention to their structural 

 features, except a few notes on economy by Bouche in 1834, Boudier in 

 1836, and Ratzeburg in his confusing and, even now, but little explored 

 mine of observation, Ichneumonen der Forstinsekten, 1844-50. Other 

 papers on the subject of secondary importance were contributed by Boie 

 and Doumerc in 1855, Tappes, Sichel and Kawell in his account of the 

 Baltic fauna. Gravenhorst's curious apterous genus Pezomachus,^ which 

 be had foreshadowed in his Monographia Ichneumonum Pedestrium of 

 181 5, was one of the earliest to attract attention, and was much too 

 elaborately monographed by Forster in 1850-51 from the basis of the 

 former's types ; and this monograph, now sadly in need of revision, still 

 constitutes the standard work upon the females of the genus, thcnigh 

 augmented by Brischke and Bridgman. The stimulus given to the whole 

 group by Taschenberg in 1865 soon became evident in Tschek's three 

 valuable papers on the Crypti of Austria in 1870-72, and Brischke's 

 general account from Prussia in 1877-82. The latter also added very 

 considerably to our knowledge of their hosts in his district and was 

 ably seconded by Dr. Giraud in this branch of the study in France. 

 The figures of van VoUenhoven's Pinacographia excited interest in the 

 beautiful coloration and graceful form of these parasites, and came at an 

 opportune time to spur what may be called the temporary renaissance of 

 their research in Britain. The intricate sub-genera into which Graven- 

 horst's unwieldy groups had been distributed by Forster in 1868 excited 

 little notice, but Thomson's more natural genera, which began to be 

 published in 1873, commanded more attention, and considerably simpli- 

 fied their discrimination. As the fasciculi of the latter's great Opuscula 

 Entomologica appeared, it was seen that here was an all embracing and 

 perfectly workable scheme of classification, which was instantly adopted 

 by all systemalists ; and notice was further drawn to it by its author's 

 fIymeno{)terous Notes in the Ann. Soc. Fratice. These new sub-genera 

 and those of Forster were synonymized by Schmiedeknecht in 1890 and 

 Ashmead in 1900. The whole of the two hundred palaearctic species of 

 heterogeneous Hemiteles were redescribed l)y thr former in 1897, and he 

 is now publishing a short systematic account nf the entni- sub family as 



1 It would be iiiterestiiiK lo know to what species Dc Gcrr (Mi'in. vii. 3K ; t. iii. lij;. to, rr) rcfiirrcd 

 as an apterous jumping Cryptus. 



