UIAPAKSIS. 515 



femora aud tibia^ black or blackisli ; hind femora auci tibue 

 not thickened, with the basal joint of their tarsi sliorter than the 

 two following nnited. Wii)(/s hyaline, with the radix and tegul® 

 ochraceous, stigma and nervures piceoiis : fenestra small and 

 punctiform ; radial cell elongate, with the submarginal nervure 

 not very short; second discoidal cell apically entire; median 

 nervure of lower wing basallv obsolete ; nervellus nearly straicrht 



. = "- ' JO 



and not gemciilate. 



Lenr/th 5 millim. 



Assam : Shillong, 6000 ft., v. 03 {Rowland Turner). 



Tiipe in the British Museum. 



This species app(?ars to belong to Fcirster's subgenus Temeluclia., 

 on account of the structure of the maxillary palpi. It is at 

 once known from its allies in liaving the terebra fully as long 

 as the apically rufescent abdomen, whereas in D. erythrostunta, 

 its nearest ally, the anus is black ; superficially it has much the 

 facies of the common Paltearctic D. versufus, Holmg. 



Tribe MESOGHOllIDES. 



The genus Mesochorus of Gravenhorst, Ratzeburg and Holmgren, 

 has been raised by recent authors to the rank of a subfamily and 

 its species distributed through four not very sharply defined genera. 

 It is very readily recognised from the whole remainder of the 

 IcHNEUMOXiD.i:, ho\^•ever, by the peculiar shape of the alar 

 areolet, which is obliquely square, that is to say that it has the 

 angles at the top, bottom and either side, in place of two on 

 the radial nervure and two below as in certain Cryptix.e. To 

 the latter it bears some analogy in its mainly deplanate abdomen, 

 the first segment of which has its spiracles at or behind the 

 centre, never before it as in most Ophionix.i:. Its true position 

 is still uncertain. Ashraead was, I believe, the first to notice 

 its relationship with Paniscus, though he places it next the 

 Baxchides. He remarks that " the abdomen in the males 

 terminates in two long, slender spines, a character found in no 

 other tribe " ; and this ])eculiarity, together with the obliquelv 

 subquadrate areolet described by me under the Paniscid geiuis 

 TetragonaJi/s {ante, p. 360) goes to confirm Ashmead's opinion 

 and to establish the jjosition of the present tribe. 



The JMEsocuoiaDES are parasitic on both Lepidoptera and 

 Hymenoptera, and have been bred from Clirysomelid and Curcu- 

 lionid beetles, but are most often met with in the injurious 

 capacity of hyperparasites. through the beneficial Braconids of 

 the subfamily Mickogastickinj:, of noxious caterpillars. Little 

 attention has been accorded this group of small insects in India: 

 and, in fact, the difficulty of their study on account of their 

 microscopic distinctions has caused them to be much neglected 

 even in those countries where Ichneumon in.i: have been most 

 closely worked. 



2l2 



