gS BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [Fhyoadeuon. 



latter generally apically black in $ ; the fourth black, rarely basally or 

 entirely red in S ; remainder black ; post-petiole of S elongate, of ? 

 broader. Legs red, more or less nigrescent ; generally with the coxae and 

 trochanters, especially the hind pair, partly or entirely black ; hind tarsi 

 and apices of their tibiae infuscate. Wings not clouded ; radix and 

 tegulae whitish, latter in S sometimes infuscate. Length, 3-4 mm. 



This species agrees with that next described in the sculpture of the 

 thorax, conformation of the basal segment and puncturation of the hind 

 femora, but the head is less cubical, the front tibiae hardly at all inflated, 

 the three basal flagellar joints evidently longer and the epipleurae of the 

 third segment extend nearly to its apex. 



The legs vary greatly in colour : the hind tibiae may be black at both 

 base and apex (Gr. var. i), sometimes with their femora concolorous 

 (var. 2), combined occasionally with the anterior femora more or less 

 basally infuscate (var. 6) ; dark femora usually combine with dark tibiae ; 

 Gravenhorst's var. 3 is a male with flavous trochanters and var. 8 a female 

 with the second segment alone obscurely red and the tegulae black. 

 Quite possibly some of these varieties are referable to the three following 

 species. 



So variable, indeed, is this species both in structure and in coloration, 

 that Bridgman says he separated the specimens in his collection into 

 seventeen female and twenty male varieties, of which Thomson's species 

 inflntus, scaposus and dimidiatiis, and Gravenhorst's troglodytes, which has 

 the hind legs entirely and the abdomen mainly black, were part (cf. Trans. 

 Norf Soc. 1893, p. 607).^ If, however, the allied species be eliminated 

 this will be easily recognized. 



P. ftimator is one of the most abundant of all British insects, more 

 especially at the roots of Aim caespitosa, where I have repeatedly taken 

 twenty females in an hour, and even at those of ordinary field-grasses 

 throughout the winter. During the warmer months it occurs on the flowers 

 of Pastinacea sa/iva, Angelica sylvesiris, Mercurialis perennis, and the var. 

 troglodytes on those of Rosa centifoUa ; it is often discovered in the great 

 tufts of Carex paniculata in marshes, in fact there is not a month in the 

 year when I have not found it in one situation or another, by beating 

 white poplar, sweeping reeds (often at dusk), in greenhouses or upon 

 house-windows ; it is commonest in August, and only the males, which of 

 course do not hibernate, are found in June. WHien alarmed it very often, 

 at least in the winter, feigns death, like DicaelotJis. It has been recorded 

 from Netley in Shropshire, Scotland, Norfolk, Devon, Plym bridge, Ivy- 

 bridge and Bickleigh, Land's End, Yorkshire, Isle of Man and Maldon in 



1 1 possess some of Bridgman's correspondence upon the subject, and it is instructive in indi- 

 cating those characters which may be expected to vary least. VVriting to Fitch in 1881, lie says, 

 "they vary from legs entirely red to only part of the front ones red, antennae black to first four or 

 five joints red, abdomen second and third segments red to almost entirely black, the areae of the 

 metathorax vary too in shape, but the shape of the head, punctures and pubescence on the abdomen 

 as well as on the head are constant through all." In i8go he wrote to Marshall : " J'hvg^ideiioit 

 fiimator, Gr., has always been a difficulty with me. Thomson has made twelve species of it ; I can 

 only detect five of Thomson's species, and those not very satisfactorily — his descriptions are so very 

 short. I find that the ? ? have the eyes in three distinct conditions: distinctly pubescent, obsoletely 

 pubescent and nude ; the third joint of the front tarsi varies, length of joints of flagellum varies, 

 sculpture of first segment and puncturing of the mesonotuni. After I had separated the ? ? (I made 

 ten or eleven distinct species*, I looked over the tT cT.bnt my inspection led me to the conclusion that 

 Thomson had reversed the <f j of A", iiijlaliis and H. fumntor." 



Several species and genera are mixed under this name in the British Museum collection. 



