300 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [Goniocryp/iis. 



after the host's pupation it evacuates its pupa and spins for itself an 

 elliptic, yellow, [xipyraceous cocoon, from wliich the imago emerges in 

 April. 



This common Continental species is certainly abundant in Britain. 

 Tugwell has bred it here from Lasiocampa quercus ; Tschek in Austria, 

 from a spider's nest ; Taschenberg from Zygaena cornnillae ; and it is 

 said (Deut. Ent. Zeit. xxi. p. 286) to be hyperparasitic upon Campoplex 

 pii^^illator, which is one of the Ophioninae. It occurs in June, July and 

 August ui)on umbelliferous flowers, and was found by Hope at Netley 

 ((jravenhorst) ; not very rarely in Shropshire and the vicinity of London 

 (Stephens) ; Isle of Man (Walker) ; Great Wilbraham near Cambridge, in 

 July (Cambs. Mus.) ; Essex (Harwood) ; Hastings District (Hast. List); 

 New Forest, in July ((Shitty) ; Eaton, in June (Bridgman) ; Bickleigh, 

 early in August (Bignell) ; Land's End (Marquand). I jjossess specimens 

 from the New Forest, in August ; Nairn ; Glengariff, VVaterville and 

 Kennan in Ireland. Piffard has found it at Felden ; Adams at Lynd- 

 hurst ; and I have taken males, in May and June, in Tuddenham Fen and 

 the Bentley Woods, where they were attracted to the flowers of the blue 

 wild hyacinths. 



2. pi eb ejus, Tschek. 



Cryptiis plehejus, Tschek, Verb. z. -b. Ges. 1870, pp. 147 et 420, i ?. Goniocrypttis 

 dypeaiis, Tboms. O. E. v. 494 et xxi. 2359, S 9 ; cf. Brisch. Scbr. Nat. Ges. Danz. 

 i879> P- 333- 



Slightly shining, closely and somewhat rugosely punctate with grey 

 pubescence. Head dull, black, obliquely narrowed behind the eyes ; 

 clypeus small, nearly as long as broad and slightly rounded apically ; 

 cheeks elongate, frons finely carinate centrally. Antennae slender, shorter 

 than body, flagellum a little incrassate before the apex ; of $ usually 

 centrally white-banded. Thorax dull, black ; mesonotum roughly punc- 

 tate ; lateral metathoracic areae incomplete and internally sparsely 

 punctulate ; petiolar area entire, centrally longitudinally impressed ; 

 spiracles elongate. Scutellum black. Abdomen oblong or oblong-ovate, 

 closely and finely punctulate, especially at the sides ; black with four 

 basal segments, except the petiole, red, $ anus with white membrane ; 

 post-petiole sub-convex, longer than broad, laterally straight and sub- 

 parallel, apically rounded, of ? with three weak foveae, of S with the 

 spiracles small and only slightly prominent ; terebra one-third the length 

 of the abdomen. Legs black with anterior tibiae and apices of their 

 femora red ; c^ with hind tarsi more or less distinctly white. Wings 

 clouded in $ ; radius only slightly reflexed apically, metacarpus strong to 

 near the apex of the wing ; tegulae black, stigma and radix piceous, latter 

 pale in $ ; nervellus intercepted in or barely above its centre. Length, 

 8-10 mm. 



Tschek shows that the colour of this species varies in certain directions ; 

 the male may have the fourth segment, which is normally red, apically 

 margined, or with the apical half black, with the hind tarsi entirely black, 

 or with joints three and four, or the fourth alone, white; the female may 

 have the antennae white-spotted, the basal segment red with its base and 

 sometimes also its apex black, with which the fourth segment may be 

 narrowly black, apically or entirely, except its extreme base, black ; or 

 with the antennae black throughout. 



