22 ICHNEU.MONIJ).!:. 



the usually smooth and glabrous postpetiole, its spirijcles iu or 

 beyond the centre and nearer to eacli other than to the apex 

 of the segment ; gastrocadi wanting or subobsolete ; terel)ra 

 nearly always elongately ex^erted. Legs slender, front tibije 

 occasionally swollen. Wings rather ample, not rarely rudi- 

 mentary or wanting; areolet pentagonal, often large and rarely 

 with outer nervure wanting. 



Subfamily IcHNEUMONii^iE. 



Head generally transverse or tumiduloiis, more rarely sub- 

 globose ; eyes oblong and entire ; clypeus imperfectly discrete ; 

 mandibles apically narrowed, teeth usually very unequal in length. 

 Antennae filiform or setaceous, rarely subserrated, stouter in 

 female than in male. Thorax stout, longer tlian high, finely 

 punctate ; metathorax profusely areated, sometimes with stout 

 apophyses ; juxtacoxal areae usually entire ; spiracles linear, sub- 

 ovate or circular ; mesosternum not laterally sulcate. Abdomen 

 depressed, oblong-fusiform and petiolate ; basal segment obtusely 

 geniculate towai'ds its apical third, its spiracles nearlj^ always dis- 

 tinctly behind the centre and further from each other than from 

 the apex of the segment ; ])ostpetiolo often transverse, with very 

 distinct sculpture; gastrocoeli nearly always very distinct : terebra 

 stout, concealed or bub slightly exserted. Legs normal or sub- 

 incrassate ; front coxfe transverse, hind ones not conical. Wings 

 normal with the areolet pentagonal, very rarely deltoid or 

 rhomboidal. 



Subfamily PIMPLIN^. 



Unlike the Aculeata, the IciiErMONiD^iD have been so utterly 

 neglected that practically nothing was known of the Indian 

 Ptmplin.i: until 1897, in spite of Smith's ' Catalogue of Indian 

 H^/menoptera ' of 1873. At the beginning of 1899 only eleven 

 species of Pimplin.e were definitely known to inhabit the Indian 

 Empire ; the only publications relative to these insects up to that 

 time being a single species each of Xylonomus and Coleocentrus de- 

 scribed by Bingham, a Poh/sphincta brought forward by Ashme-ul, 

 a Phnpla um-ecognisably diagnosed by Walker in 1860, four species 

 of the same genus enumerated by Caiueron, some notes on Xan- 

 tliopimpJa by Van VoUenhoven in 1879, a couple of indistinguisli- 

 able insects, probably referable to the Ophionin.i:, mentioned 

 from Ceylon by Motschulsky in 1863, and a few ancient species, 

 such as l^phex tiu/osks, de G., Ichneumon punciator, L., and one or 

 two species described by Brulle in his general account of Hymeno- 

 ptera, all of which latter were vaguely said to have come from 

 "India" or "the Indies." 



