iJESOLEIUS. 



329 



This genus contains a \ei'y great number of species, as brought 

 together by Holmgren in 1855 and 187(5 ; but Forster has sub- 

 divided it into a great many subgenera, at least some of which are 

 of none too stable formation. Excluding all the species placed 

 a])art in these latter divisions, we still know some 225 species of 

 Mesoleius, M'hich is exclusively parasitic upon the larva3 of Tbn- 

 TiiREDiNiD,^; and this circumstance accounts for the paucity of 

 representatives of the genus in India, though doubtless at least a 

 few more will occur when the hill-stations are more fiillv worked. 



2;54. Mesoleius wahlbergi, llolmg. 



Mesoleius toahlhergii, Holmgren, Sv. Ak, Ilaiull. 1870, ]). lo (J). 



J . A black species, Avith the head and hind tibiae partly 

 stramineous and most of the legs red. Head not narrowed Ijehind 

 the eyes ; vertex deeply emargiuate ; mouth, clypeus, the sub- 

 buccate cheeks and the broad face, flavidous. Antenna' ferru- 

 ginous red beneath. Thorax stout, 

 anteriorly subelevated ; mesonotum 

 shining, with the deejily iuipressed 

 notauli extending to its disc and a 

 llavidous callosity before the radices; 

 uu5sopleur;e closel}' punctate below, 

 strongly nitidulous and sparsely 

 punctate above ; metathorax short, 

 finely alutaceo-rugose and not very 

 shining, with the apically dilated 

 areola and the semicircular petiolar 

 area strongly circnmcarinate. Scu- 

 teUtdu black. Abdomen entirely 

 black, with the basal segment a 

 little longer than the hind coxae, 

 gradually dilated apically, laterally 

 acutely margined throughout, with the discal sulcus and carinjc 

 A\-eak ; second segment subcoriaceous ; venter black. Ler/s red, 

 A\ ith the anterior coxa? and trochanters flavous : hind ones stout 

 and not short, with the coxjc and the stout tarsi black, their 

 trochanters flavescent and tibia) blackish, basally pale. Winr/s 

 hyaline, with the stigma infuscate testaceous, r;i'dix and teguJa? 

 pale stramineous ; areolet wanting ; nervellus subopposite and 

 intercepted nearly in its centre. 

 Leuf/th 7 millim. 



Kashmir, 6000 ft., v.(H (Col. Nurse). Laplam). 

 Type in the Stockholm Museum. 



Tliis species does not appear to have been referred to since 

 originally recorded as rare in central Laplaiul, where it was dis- 

 covered by Prof. P. E. Wahlberg. I think that no doubt can 

 remain that the Kashmii- specimen, captured by Col. Nurse, is 

 conspeciiic. The sole dillerences are that the autenuoc, which are 



Fig. 92. 

 Mesoleius xeahlbergi, Ilolnig. 



