Plectocrypius.^ BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 7 



PLECTOCRYPTUS, Thomson. 



Thorns. O. E. v. 519; vi. 599; cf. ix. 850; (?) Epiphobus, Forst. Verb, pr, Rheinl. 

 186S, p. 185. 



Scrobes distinct ; peristpmium broad ; flagellum of $ filiform ; meta- 

 thorax with longitudinal costae and oval spiracles. vScutellum somewhat 

 convex. Abdomen usually black ; petiole distinctly bicarinate ; tibiae 

 strongly spinulose. 



The above characters will serve to distinguish this genus, originally 

 comprising several species which were subsequently relegated to Micro- 

 ctyptus by Thomson, who confined it to C. digitatus and P. scansor on 

 account of their black abdomen, broad peristomium, longer and stronger 

 mandibles and shorter cheeks. From the preceding genus it may further 

 be differentiated by the head which is more contracted in front of the 

 antennae, the colour of the petiole, conformation of the scutellum and in 

 not having the flagellum centrally incrassate. 

 . Schmiedeknecht, in 1905, appears to have overlooked Thomson's re- 

 striction of this genus (Opusc. Ent. 850) and places in it species later 

 transposed by the latter to Microcryptus and here treated of under that 

 genus. 



Tabic of Species. 



(6). I. Spiracles ovate ; scutellum black ; femora red. 



(5). 2. Head of $ pale-marked ; ? macropterous. 



(4). 3. Flagellum pale-banded ; anterior trochanters 



black I. DIGITATUS, Gmel. 



(3). 4. Flagellum not pale-banded ; anterior tro- 

 chanters white 2. LEUCOPSIS, 6^mz/. 



(2). 5. Head of (J immaculate ;$ brachypterous 3. GRISESCENS, 6^raz/. 



(i). 6. Spiracles linear ; scutellum white ; femora 



black 4. TINCTORIUS, Grav. 



I. digitatus, Gviel. 



Ichneumon digitatus, (jmel. S. N. i. 2688. Phygadeuon digitatus, Gr. I. E. ii. 642 ; 

 Tasch. Zeits. Ges. Nat. 1865, p. 48; Capron, Entom. 1879, P- '4> ?• Plectocryptus 

 digitatus. Thorns. O. E. vi. 602 ct xxi. 2382, 6 9 . Cryptus bivinctus, Gr. I. E. ii. 

 465 ; Tasch. Zeits. Ges. Nat. 1865, p. 78, 6 . 



Head black, with mandibles except their apices, pale ; $ with frontal 

 orbits, labrum and palpi, dull white. Antennae centrally in both se.xes, 

 and sometimes the i scape beneath, white ; of $ filiform and half the 

 length of the body. Thorax immaculate, with short grey pilosity ; meso- 

 notum shining, strongly and somewhat sparsely punctate ; metathorax 

 roughly punctate, with the areola indistinct and apically truncate ; petiolar 

 area nearly vertical and discreted, with the apophyses strong in $ , wanting 

 in (J. Scutellum black. Abdomen strongly nitidulous and shortly pilose ; 

 of (J elongate, and of 9 ovate, as broad as thorax, incrassate towards the 

 anus, with the basal segment gradually dilated apically, the post-petiole 

 bicarinate and sub-quadrate with distinct spiracles, and the seventh seg- 

 ment with a white membraneous dot ; terebra rather longer than half the 

 abdomen. Legs stout and red, with coxae and trochanters black ; $ with 

 the hind tarsi and apical half of their tibiae infuscate, and the second to 

 fourth joints of the latter pure white. Wings a little clouded, of ? narrow 



