158 



ICHNEUMONlD.i:. 



specimens (P. poesla, Cam.) differ to only ,i very sliglit extent 

 (mainly in their duller body) from the familiar European form ; 

 in the 5 , as well as in the S , the scutellum is usually, though not 

 always, mainly fiavous, the tegulse are testaceous and the stigma, 

 in all the examples of both sexes that I liave seen, is clear fulvous. 

 There can, however, I'emain no shadow ot" doubt that they are 

 •conspecific. I have seen the rypes of both sexes of P. jjoesia in 

 the 13ritish Museum ; the female lacks both anteniue. 



One of the very commonest of the whole IciiNEUMOXiD-Ti; 

 throughout Europe, it is not surprising that this species should 

 extend to tlie hill districts of India, though its occurrence in 

 Ceylon is more remarkable. It is one of the first insects ever 

 described, since it is recorded under the name Jftisca hlpilis 

 secunda by old Moufet, from the neighbourliood of Oxford as long 

 ago as 1684 (Ins. Theatr. p. 63). Its parasitism is most probably 

 confined to the Lepidoptera, as the only two records from Ten- 

 TiiiiEBiNin^E require confirmation; upon the former it appears 

 well-nigh omnivorous, attacking with impartiality every group 

 and family. Neai'ly a hundred distinct species from which it has 

 been bred are enumerated in my "Ichneumonologia Britannica " 

 (iii, pp. 92-95), where also are given details of its economy so 

 far as they were known in 1908. Its Indian hosts are at present 

 unknown, although it appears to be as common in India as in 

 Europe, and is re])resented in all the collections I have seen. 



103. Pimpla laothoe, Cam. 



Fimpla laotJaw, Cameron, Mancli. Mem. 1897, p. 22 (5). 



cT $ . A black species, with the scutellum immaculate and the 

 legs mainly red. Head densely covered with fulvescent pilosity, 

 which is especially elongate and thick below the scapes, where is 



a central nitidulous and im- 

 punctate line ; frons broadly 

 but not deeply impressed ; 

 front ocellus surrounded by 

 a furrow, continued down 

 the centre of the frons, 

 which is shallowly punctate. 

 Antennoi filiform and very 

 slender, nearly as long as 

 the body and black, u ith all 

 the flagellar joints strongly 

 elongate. Thorax immacu- 

 late, closely punctate and 

 densely pilose ; metathorax 

 evenly declivous and late- 



-^. .,. „■ 7 7 ., •• /^ rallysubcarinate, rugose and 



Fi". .).). — Ftinpla laotlioc, Cam. • U ^ j- x i 



° '' ' \n the centre transversely 



strigose ; propleurie longi- 



iudinally strigose below and stoutly bicarinate longitudinally above; 



