BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. IIQ 



couron. Ac. Belg. 1859, p. 68, ?. Var. brachypt., Brachyptents means, Gr. I. E. i. 

 675 ; Ste. 111. M. vii. 210, pi. xl. f. 2 ; Wesm. Mi5m. couron. Ac. Belg. 1S59, p. 84, 

 fig. (wing) ; (/. Marsh. E. M. M. v. 155 ; S. v. Voll. Schets. i. pi. i. f. 5 ; I'inac. pi. 

 xxxvi. f. 6; Pterocorintis means, Forst. Wiegm. Arch. 1S50, p. 72, ?. 



This and the three following species are at once known by their small 

 size and entirely black scutellum. Head entirely black ; cheeks a little 

 inflated, apically smooth ; palpi pale, mandibles reddish. Antennae stout, 

 filiform throughout, black ; $ white-banded, ba.sally clear red ; $ flavous 

 beneath. Thorax entirely black ; scutellum of $ very rarely flavous- 

 marked, of ? somewhat rugose apically ; areola always longer than broad, 

 the lateral areae usually confluent. Abdomen elongate-ovate in 5 1 sub- 

 linear in $ , black ; segments one to three and base of four red, six and 

 seven of ? white-marked ; post-petiole finely aciculate ; gastrocaeli sub- 

 linear transverse, somewhat shallow, not broader than intervening space ; 



$ with third segment quadrate. Legs normal, red ; hind femora, tibiae 

 and tarsi apically black ; coxae red, anterior sometimes white-marked in 



$. Wings sub-hyaline; stigma fulvidous ; tegulae red; areolet (says 

 Berthoumieu) sometimes sub-deltoid in $ . Length, 5-7 mm. 



This species is distinguished from others in both sexes by the thorax 

 cylindrical, scutellum black, thyridii nearly punctiform, gastrocaeli small, 

 areola longer than broad. The ? has the antennae tricoloured, their 

 flagellum not attenuate towards the apex, their post-annellus evidently 

 shorter than the slightly excised sub-cylindrical scape ; the spiracles 

 (Thomson tells us) are small, rotund-oval ; segments one to four red, 

 seventh, and sometimes also the sixth, with small white marks ; the legs 

 are stoutish, red, hind femora and tibiae apically black, the claws stout ; 

 the antennae are inserted far below the middle of the prominent face. 

 The $ has the flagellum croceous beneath, and somewhat reddish above 

 near the base ; segments two to four parallel-sided, slightly transverse, red, 

 the fourth sometimes posteriorly, and the petiole usually partly black ; 

 legs red ; coxae, trochanters and apices of posterior femora and tibiae 

 broadly black, the posterior tarsi fuscous towards the apex 



The depth of the post-petiolar aciculation varies considerably in the 

 females. 



/. elega7is, Grav., differed from the type only in the pale anal markings 

 of the abdomen, but these may be distinct or quite absent, as is shown in 

 the second table, while all intermediate forms are found ; I have, however, 

 seen no indigenous examples with an immaculate anus. 



There is a constant brachypterous form of this species, which was first 

 described by Gravenhorst from a specimen taken by Hope, at Netley, 

 as Brachypierus vieans, and subsequently identified with /. hiirator, by 

 Wesmael and JSLirshall, the former figures its little wing ; but the neura- 

 tion is by no means constant, the contour of the apices may differ in a 

 single specimen, being sometimes acuminate, as figured, at others gently 

 rounded, or even truncate. 



The wings of /. lairalor, even when fully developed, vary much in shape, 

 being often narrow with the nervures apically obsolete. All the transitions 

 between this and the form means appear to occur. At first the areolet is 

 still present, though quadrate, the metacarpus extends beyond the a[ie\ of 

 the radial nervure and the wings, which are similar to, though narrower 

 than, the macropterous form, to the apex of the second segment. In less 



M 



