138 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 



I have followed Berthoumieu in considering /. vicinus a variety of the 

 present species, from which it differs in its broader gastrocaeli, sub-aciculate 

 base of second segment, shorter and apically more distinctly sinuate areola; 

 the 5 has the abdomen broader and the $ the face and clypeus centrally 

 broadly black. Thomson, however, referred it to /. al/iiger, Wesm. 



One female, at Earlham, in Norfolk, in ^August (Bridgman); Maldon, 

 in Essex (Fitch). Bred from Nociun fesU'va, in Devon, on i8th June 

 (Bigneli) ; Beaumont has found it at Pitlochry, in Perth, at the end of 

 August and Miss Chawner, in the New Forest ; it has been bred from 

 Nonagria spargnnii, by Van Vollenhoven, and from Triphaena fimbria 

 once or twice in Britain. It is not uncommon on the Continent, where 

 the female hibernates in moss. 



27. confusorius, Grav} 



Ichneumon confusor, Gr. Mem. Ac. Soc. Torin, 1820, p. 300. /. confusorius, Cr. I. 

 E. i. 276, $ excl. varr. ; Ste. 111. j\I. vii. 16 ; Holmgr. Ichn. Suec i. 58 ; cf. Ent. Tidskr. 

 1880, p. 29 ; Thorns. O. E. xviii. 1921 et xxi. 2394 ; Ann. .Soc. Fr. 1887, p. 5 ; Berth. 

 ///'. cit. 1894, p. 639, (5 9. /. hictatorius, Wesm. Nouv. M6m. Ac. Brux. 1844, p. 57 

 (part.) ; Bui. Ac. Brux. 1848, p. 159, excl. varr. ; (?) Ratz Ichn. d. Forst. i. 136, c5 9 . /. 

 retectus et /. crassicornis, Tisch. Stett. Zeit. 1873, 9 9 . 



Head black ; $ temples and cheeks somewhat inflated, mouth parts and 

 internal orbits often reddish ; $ strongly narrowed behind the eyes, palpi, 

 clypeus and face pale flavous. ' Antennae black ; of ? filiform throughout, 

 hardly half the length of body, white-banded with joints five and six quad- 

 rate and apically ferrugineous above ; $ with scape flavous, and flagellum 

 fulvous or rufescent, beneath, basal half of latter with sub-cylindrical joints, 

 of which the first four bear no tyloides. Thorax finely punctate ; very 

 rarely with a pale callosity beneath the radix in 5 , always with one both 

 before and beneath it in ^ ; metathorax somewhat shining, with three 

 upper areae, of which the areola is rectangular, in ? longer than broad, 

 with its apical margin obsolete in centre, in $ sub-quadrate, apically emar- 

 ginate. Scutellum white in 5 ; flavous and somewhat flat in $ . Abdomen 

 of $ oblong-ovate, segments two and three red and sometimes darker on 

 disc, six, seven, and often five, with white marks ; of $ sub-linear, seg- 

 ments two and three entirely flavous, the latter sub-quadrate ; post-petiole 

 aciculate ; gastrocaeli normal. Legs black ; $ front tibiae stramineous, 

 posterior tricoloured ; scopulae piceous ; S tibiae and tarsi flavous, hind 

 ones apically black, intermediate tibiae immaculate at apex. Wings 

 with stigma fulvous, tegulae piceous and flavous ; of c? a little clouded. 

 Length, 10-15 ''''"^^• 



The 9 of this species may be known by the colour of the abdomen and 

 legs, as well as by the structure of the posterior coxae. The $ differs 

 from that of /. computatorius in the truncate apex of its clypeus, which in 

 the latter is slightly emarginate. 



The $ is very closely allied to that of /. exfensorius, but its tibiae which 

 bear broad central stramineous bands, the very distinct tufts of the hind 



1 I am led, from the material through which I have looked, to believe that this species was very 

 little understood by the older authors ; and further to surmise that the name was used in connection 

 with a much smaller species, exceedingly abundant in grass-tufts, etc., during the winter, in Britain, 

 which I expect will prove to be the ? of Ichiuiiinon albiger, Wesm.. though I am not yet sufficiently 

 satisfied with my data to bring the latter forward as a British insect. 



