250 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. {Atractodes. 



Legs normal ; red with coxae, trochanters and the hind tibiae before their 

 base, black ; tibiae shortly and closely setulose ; tarsal claws elongate, 

 acuminate and very slender, reaching far beyond the pulvilli ; onychium 

 almost longer than calcaria. Wings with the stigma infuscate, tegulae 

 black and the radix pale stramineous ; areolet j>cntagonal with the outer 

 nervure sub-obsolete. Length, 3-10 mm. 



Holmgren mentions a ? variety with the second and third segments 

 entirely black. 



This species is less slender than A. bicolor^ with the abdomen stouter 

 and hardly compressed apically, the antennae shorter and thicker, and the 

 central metathoracic area less deeply impressed ; the areolet is much 

 larger than that of A. vestalis. It may easily be differentiated by the 

 short impressed lateral lines of the second segment, which hardly extend 

 to the spiracles, by its glabrous eyes, externally slender tarsal claws, in- 

 complete areolet, confluent fenestrae, antefurcal nervellus, and the ^ by 

 the hardly elevated lines of the central flagellar joints. 



It is found upon TImbelUferae in August. Rare in Ireland, according 

 to Haliday ; found at Forres by Chitty in 1892; taken by Bignell at 

 Bickleigh, towards the end of August ; by Bloomfield about Hastings ; 

 by Sladen at St. Margaret's in Kent, in August ; and at Blackburn, on the 

 window of St. Anne's station in July, by Bowdler. Tuck has sent me a 

 male from Finborough Park in Suffolk, at the end of September, 1900; 

 and I captured another on Angelica flowers in the Reydon marshes at 

 Southwold during the following week. It is probably attached to low- 

 lying, swampy land. 



6. compressus, Thorns. 



Atractodes arator, Hal. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 1 19, i ? (?). A. compressus. 

 Thorns. O. E. x. 1023, d ? . 



A black species with the head not narrowed behind the eyes. Antennae 

 of 9 basally testaceous, apically sub-incrassate, with the last joint oblong, 

 and the penultimate half as long again as broad. Thorax with the pro- 

 notum and mesopleurae punctate ; central metathoracic area not dilated. 

 Abdomen centrally testaceous ; of $ usually with the whole of the third 

 segment, and narrow lateral with broad apical margins of the second, red ; 

 the latter bearing impressed lateral lines extending to the spiracles. Legs 

 testaceous, with the hind ones partly black ; tarsal claws stout, calcaria 

 elongate. Areolet externally not entire. Length, 5-7 mm. 



This species is among the largest of the genus, and may be known by 

 the punctate pronotum and mesopleurae. 



Haliday's A. arator agrees very well with Thomson's species in the shape 

 of the apical flagellar joint, coloration of the abdomen and of the legs, but 

 his description is too inadequate to synonymize them with any certainty, 

 unless the types be examined, and these (which are preserved in the 

 Dublin Museum) are, I am informed, not labelled. The former was found 

 uncommonly at Holy wood. 



