Microcryptus.] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 27 



obtuse and not abruptly attenuate apically, with the post-annellus longer 

 than the scape, centrally white-banded and beneath rufescent ; of o rarely 

 with the flagellum mainly fcrrugineous. Thorax somewhat nitidulous and 

 pubescent ; mesonotum, especially in the 9 > coarsely punctate ; nieta- 

 thorax rugose, areae complete and areola transverse in the 6; 9 with the 

 areola triangular, apically straight, with no costulae ; basal area and 

 apophyses distinct ; spiracles large and oval. Scutellum in both sexes 

 black, of 9 deplanate. Abdomen of 9 ovale and as broad as the thorax, 

 of the ($ elongate-lanceolate, black, with at most the margin of the second 

 segment castaneous ; 9 with the second, third and apex of the first 

 segment, red, and the seventh and eighth white-marked ; petiole glabrous, 

 with distinct carinae, apically dilated and very slightly curved laterally, of 

 9 transverse ; second segment distinctly, though very finely, punctate ; 

 terebra as long as the metatarsus. Legs not short and of 9 somewhat 

 stout ; red, with coxae, trochanters, the sparsely but evidently spinulose 

 hind tibiae except basally, and their tarsi, black. Wings somewhat 

 clouded ; radix rufescent, of <^ stramineous ; tegulae infuscate. Length, 

 8-IO nmi. 



Bouche (Naturg. 144) tells us the larva of this species is elongate, 

 fleshy and white, glabrous and finely wrinkled ; the mouth organs of the 

 rounded head are indicated by brown lines, with only the mandibles dis- 

 tinctly movable ; the imaginal six legs are represented by yellow dots ; 

 the stigmata are very small and stramineous ; its length is four lines. He 

 adds that it preys upon the larvae of Geonielra piniaria, but that it 

 evacuates the host and pupates on the earth in an elliptic, sooty black, 

 papyraceous cocoon. 



This species is common throughout the whole of Europe. Gravenhorst, 

 who took the female on umbelliferous flowers in August, says that Hope 

 found several specimens of the same sex about Nelley, in Shropshire ; and 

 Stephens adds that the female used to be rare about London in June. I 

 have seen females taken by Luff in Alderney, Piffard at Felden, Miss 

 Chawner in the New Forest ; on November 3rd, 1894, I swept a S in the 

 Bentley Woods in Suffolk, and possess another male captured by Yerbury, 

 at Parknasilla, in Ireland, on 22nd July, 1901. 



[Since the above was written, I have received from Mr. James Waterston 

 what is undoubtedly the true female of M. rufipes, Grav. This is very 

 satisfactory, since Ichneumon curvus is so very dissimilar from Cryptus 

 rufipes as to have always left considerable doubt in my mind concerning 

 the propriety of Thomson's (presumably arbitrary) conjunction of these 

 species. It now remains to discover the c^ of /. curvus. Mr. Waterston's 

 female is : — 



Black, with the anterior tibiae and tarsi and all the femora alone red ; 

 the antennae have the five central flagellar joints white above. Head 

 anteriorly nearly triangular, frons closely and coarsely punctate and pu- 

 bescent, with the scrobes somewhat large ; the clypeus discreted, punctate 

 and apically truncate ; mandibles stout, with efjual teeth ; cheeks straight, 

 not buocate, and much longer than base of mandibles ; epistoma intu- 

 mesccnt ; vertex abruptly declived, but not emarginate, posteriorly ; palpi 

 and ligula piceous. Antennae somewhat slender and basally sul)-attenuate, 

 with the apex obtuse ; post-annellus slightly longer than the s(a|)e and, 

 with the two following joints, apically sub-nodulose. Thorax nitidulous j 



