xlii INTRODUCTION. 



augmented them in the three volumes of his Ichneumonologia Suecica 

 (by which Bridgman mainly worked). Gravenhorst divided the whole 

 group into five sub families :—tlie Ichneumoninae, Cryptinae, Ophioninae, 

 Tryphoninae and J'implinae. Of the last three, Holmgren, very greatly 

 assisted in the comprehensive classification in his Swedish Monogra[)hiae, 

 published in the Sv. Ak. Handl., in 1858, 1859 and i860, respectively; 

 as well as more detailed Dispositiones of the genera Exochus, in Ofv. 

 V.-K. Forh., in 1873, Campoplex, in 1872, and Mesoleius, in 1876, both 

 in the Sv. Ak. Handl. Of the Cryptinae, however, both Wesmael and 

 Holmgren wrote little or nothing; and the task of revising the Graven- 

 horstian types devolved upon Taschenberg, who, in 1865, published 

 an account of them, in the Zeits. Ges. Nat. ; which was initiated by 

 Professor Forster's Monographic der Gattung Pezomachus, in the Wiegm. 

 Archiv., of 1850-51, and elaborated, by Thomson, in his classical Opusc. 

 Ent. The more recent works upon the four other sub-families will be 

 treated of in their proper positions, since they have now been sufficiently 

 defined; and we may momentarily glance at what has of late been 

 achieved with regard to the Ichneumoninae. 



As Gravenhorst laid firm the foundation of the Ichneumonidae as a 

 whole, so ^V'esmae^s Tentamen formed the basis of work upon the sub- 

 family Ichneumoninae, followed, as I have just said, by Holmgren. From 

 1852 to 1882, Tischbein described a large number of new forms, from 

 Hungary, Germany and Austria, many of which were at most mere varieties 

 of extant species ; and the voluminous Kriechbaumer scattered notes and 

 descriptions broadcast through a diversity of periodicals, from 1854 to 1901. 

 In 1878, Brischke published an annotated catalogue of the Prussian 

 species, and in it described a few which were new ; but his best work is 

 in the economic department of the study. M. I'Abbe Berthoumieu has 

 summed up all that is known of the Continental species, in his capital 

 compilation. Monographic des Ichneumonides d'Europe, which appeared 

 in the Ann. Soc. Fr., 1894 to 1896, supplemented with notes by M. Pic 

 and himself in the Bui. Soc. Fr. It is unfortunate, however, that he was 

 not a close student of Professor Thomson, the keenest observer and most 

 talented systematist of modern times, who published upon this sub-family 

 three invaluable papers in his great Opuscula Entomologia : — " Bidrag till 

 Kannedom af Ichneumones Pneustici," " Anmarkningarofven Ichneumoner 

 sarskilt med hansyn till nagra af A. E. Holmgren's typer," i. and ii., which 

 are developed in a most original manner ; and, if the system employed be 

 more subtle than that of other authors, the nomenclature arrived at is the 

 most natural possible of attainment under existing conditions. 



BRITISH AUTPIORS. 



My notes on the new species described by the older British authors 

 appeared in the E.M.M. of 1902, pp. 118- 123, and in them I attempted 

 to synonymize their names with those now in use upon the Continent. 

 Many of the descriptions of these Ichneumoninae, however, af)peared 

 identical with none I could find. These were tentatively considered to be 

 good species and have been herein described at some length, from the 

 type specimens in the British Museum and elsewhere. Of the oldest of 

 our authors, Moufet, Ray, Albin, Donovan, William Kirby, &c., mention 

 has already been made. With the exception of Forster's Novae Species, 



