BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. I5 



says (Entom. 1878, p. 274) that immediately after its emergence the host's 

 pupa is " about half-filled with thick creamy-looking matter," but that there 

 is no indication of a distinct pupa-case. Rev. A. Thornley has given me 

 this species from the New Forest ; it is recorded from Maldon, in Essex ; 

 I have seen it from Derbyshire and Wicken Fen ; Beaumont has taken it 

 at York ; and it has been bred from A. Atropos in Yorkshire. 



2. exaltatorius, Patiz. 



Ichneumon, De Geer, M(5m. ii. 848, n. 3, t. 29. f. 9. /. exaltatorius, Tanz. Schaef. 

 Ic. t. ccxlii. f. 3. Trogus exaltatorius, \Vesm. Nouv. M6m. Ac. Brux. 1844, p. 143, 

 i 9 ; Holmgr. Ichn. Suec. ii. 2S5, 9 ; Berth. Ann. Soc. Fr. 1896, p. 296, 6 9 ; cf. 

 Thorns, lib. cit. 1888, p. 121. /. Atropos. Cur. B. E. pi. ccxxxiv. ; Farm. Ins. 443; if. 

 Gr. I. E. i. Suppl. 697 ; Newport, Tr. Linn. Soc. xxi. 85, pi. ix. ; Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 1S49, p. 54, et 1853, P- 213 (oecon.). T. Atropos, Ste. 111. M. vii. 271 ; Wood, Ins. at 

 Home, 32, pi. X. f. 3. T. atrocatidatus, Ste. 111. M. vii. 271. 



Very like the preceding, but easily separated by the characters given 

 above, and also by the longer antennae, slightly more slender and darker 

 legs, and by the wings, which are less fulvescent with the apical cloud more 

 clearly determinate. 



Much confusion has always existed in Britain concerning the species of 

 this genus, and it is quite impossible to tell, from Stephens' mere colour 

 descriptions, to which his T. lutorius, atroaiuda/us, and Curtis' T. Atropos 

 belong. In the case oi atrocaudatus, of which no type is indicated in the 

 author's collection, I have followed Desvignes' reference to the second 

 species as more correct ; it differs slightly from the type form, itself 

 extremely variable in colour, in having the inner orbits, the four basal 

 segments alone, instead of nearly the whole abdomen, fulvous, the posterior 

 coxae paler, and the fulvescence of the wings somewhat more pronounced. 

 T. Atropos may be known by a large fulvous patch on either side of the 

 metanotum, the four apical segments are deep, shining black, and the 

 wings are bright testaceous with their apices infuscate ; this form is 

 certainly referable to the present species, the type being extant in the 

 British Museum. 



There can be no doubt that this species occurs frequently with us, and 

 is probably not rare. Bridgman and Fitch, from their remarks (Entom. 

 1881, p. 129), appear to know it well ; yet it was never recorded in their 

 lists of parasites, and a specimen in my possession, positively thus named 

 by the former, is undoubtedly referable, as the dentiparal costae instantly 

 show, to T. liitorius. Curtis records his Atropos from Rochester (Prof. 

 Henslow) ; Darenth Wood, in July (Davis) ; and bred from Acheroiitia 

 Atropos, at Faversham, in Kent (Miss Giraud). Newport, whose account 

 of this species' economy has already been dealt with at some length, took 

 many about Canterbury, in 1829, &c., in young ash plantations^, and .says it 

 is " a truly Kentish species, commoner on ligttstri than Atropos.'''' Besides 

 Sphinx ligustri, it preys upon Siiieritithus ocellatus, from which it has been 

 bred at Askern Spa, in Yorks. ; Bignell has found it in South Devon, 

 Routledge in Cumberland ; it is recorded from Maldon, in Essex, and 

 Beaumont has examples taken at Bury St. Edmunds, by, probably, the 

 late Dr. Wratislaw. It appears much more restricted in its Continental 

 distribution than the last species, having only been recorded from Germany, 

 Belgium and Sweden. 



