Alractodes.] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 247 



somewhat slioitcr lluui the hind coxae and troeluuUers, wiUi the post-pcliole 

 deplanate and spiracles slightly prominent ; second segment hardly longer 

 than broad, the third shorter ; terebra very shortly exserted. Legs black 

 with the tibiae and sometimes the knees, testaceous or piceous, the anterior 

 centrally and the hind ones apically infuscate ; tarsal claws acuminate, 

 elongate and very slender ; tibiae shortly and closely setulose, calcaria 

 slender and strongly curved ; femora somewhat stout. AVings hyaline, 

 areolet sub-triangular, more or less entire ; lower angle of the discoidal 

 cell acute ; stigma piceous and radix testaceous. Length, 3-7 mm. 



This species is at once known from the remainder of the genus by its 

 oval and immarginate abdomen, conspicuous notauli, aeneous lustre and 

 very slender onyches. Haliday says it " might perhaps with equal reason 

 be referred to the genus Stilpniis ; indeed any definite line drawn between 

 these two genera must be arbitrary." 



[I am by no means prepared to accept Gravcnhorst's name for this 

 species, since H. tenebricosus is described as having the head transverse 

 with pale cheeks, the petiolar area discreted, the basal segment irregularly 

 and the second feebly aciculate, with the areolet pentagonal. To me it 

 appears more nearly allied to Hemiteles trisiator, Grav. A. vestalis is 

 probably the uninstanced type of Forster's genus Polyrhembia, which 

 appears to differ from Atractodes — as restricted in his Monograph — in 

 having the ocelli nearer each other than to the eyes, the second segment 

 not at all or entirely bordered, the apical tarsal joint rather longer, and the 

 radial nervure emitted from the centre of the areolet, which is always 

 entire. Ashmead's distinctions are trivial.] 



Haliday says this is a common species in Ireland. It has been recorded 

 from Norfolk commonly, Hooe and Bickleigh in Devon, and Land's End ; 

 I have seen specimens from St. Margaret's Bay, Lynton, Gullane near 

 Edinburgh and Blackburn. Capron found it commonly at Shere ; Mar- 

 shall at Nunton ; Beaumont at Shifnal ; Piffard at Felden ; and Yerbury 

 at Golspie, Hereford and Tarrington. It has occurred to me abundantly 

 on flowers from May to September at Wortham, Mildenhall, Lowestoft, 

 Barham, Ipswich, Marlesford, Brandon, Foxhall and Belstead (all in 

 Suffolk) ; but I can find no record of its parasitism. 



2. bicolor, Grav. 



Atractodes bicolor, Gr. I. E. iii. 791 ; Holmgr. Sv. Ak. Handl. 1858, n. 8, p. 113, ? ; 

 Hal. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 119 ; Fiirst. Verb. Wien. z. -b. Ver. 1876, pp. 119, 129 ; 

 Thorns. O. E. x. 1022, i 9 • Var. A. fiimatus, Hal. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 119, 6 9. 



Shining, hardly jjunctate, black. Head transverse, with the palpi, apex 

 of clypeus and more or less of the mandibles red or testaceous ; eyes 

 pilose. Antennae filiform and about half the length of the body, infuscate, 

 with the scape beneath and the following joints ferrugineous in 9 1 

 stramineous in c^. Thorax rarely with a testaceous dot before the radix; 

 central metathoracic area broad but not deeply excavate. Scutellum 

 triangular and sub-gibbulous. Abdomen as broad as or a little narrower 

 than the thorax, very smooth and nitidulous, fusiform or lanceolate-linear, 

 of $ laterally and ventrally compressed, with the anus truncate ; basal 

 segment straight, sub-linear and slightly dilated a[)ically with the post- 

 petiole hardly longer than broad and lulf the length of the petiole ; the 



