146 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 



Cusop, Hereford, in August {cf. E.M.M. 1903, p. 113). It is widely dis- 

 tributed on the Continent, where the female hibernates among moss. 



36. formosus, Grav. 



Ic/iiteiiiiioii foniiosiis,Gr. I. K. i. 613, i ; Wesm. Mem. couron. Ac. Bclg. 1859, p. 76, 

 Var. /. sa/iaUorius, var. I, dr. I. E. i. 246 ; Ste. 111. M. vii. 155, i. Var. /. iMiiklhii, 

 Holmgr. Ichn. Suec. i. 127 ; Thorns. O. E. xviii. 1934 ; Berth. Ann. Soc. Fr. 1894, 

 p. 590, c5 $ . 



$ . Head entirely black, with brown pubescence. Antennae somewhat 

 slender, setaceous, white- banded. Thorax entirely black, with brown 

 pubescence ; areola quadrate. Scutellum white. Abdomen dull black, 

 more shining apically ; segments two and three castaneous-red, marked 

 with black ; fourth sometimes with a dot, five to seven with large dorsal 

 marks, white ; post-petiole aciculate ; gastrocaeli large, not transverse, 

 about as broad as the strongly aciculate intervening space ; incisures of 

 segments three to seven normal. Legs slender, black ; tibiae testaceous, 

 hind ones apically black ; front femora apically red ; hind coxae not 

 scopuliferous. Wings fiavescent ; stigma fulvous, areolet narrowed above, 

 sub-deltoid. 



$. Head black; palpi pale; labrum and facial orbits often broadly 

 flavous ; clypeal fascia sometimes ferrugineous. Scape beneath, and joints 

 ten to sixteen for the most part, white. Thorax entirely black ; areola 

 transverse. Scutellum black or whitish-flavous. Abdominal sculpture and 

 colour as in $ ; the three basal segments dull, the three apical with white 

 or glaucous dorsal marks. Legs black ; tibiae, except apices of hind ones, 

 clear testaceous-red ; anterior femora apically pale fulvous ; tarsi basally 

 testaceous. Wings with areolet narrowed above, sub -deltoid. Length, 

 15-16 mm. 



It differs from /. obessor, Wesm., in the sub-deltoid areolet, and the 

 whitish S antennal band ; the $ variety with a pale scutellum and antennal 

 band is /. salicatorius, var. i, Grav. It may be known from /. silaceus, 

 by its darker pilosity, larger size and broader gastrocaeli. 



Gravenhorst bred the pale var. from Arctia fuliginosa, and Stephens 

 took it at Coombe Wood, in June. I know of no other British records, 

 though it occurs throughout northern Europe, where the female is said to 

 hibernate in moss. 



Wesmael, with the original types before him, says /. formosus has 

 " identiquement la meme sculpture" as obessor^ Wesm., but Berthoumieu 

 has considered obessor a good species, and for/nosus a variety of Miiklini, 

 Holmgr., saying that the former has the areolet broad above, with the 

 base of the second segment slightly aciculate, and the latter the areolet 

 sub-deltoid, with the second segment basally very rugose. Gravenhorst 

 describes the areolet of yf;r;;/i9i-//5- as sub-triangular. Berthoumieu himself 

 says the second segment of obessor is strongly aciculate, and Holmgren 

 precisely the same of Alliklini. We may then, I think, take it that obessor 

 is a good species with the areolet sub-pentagonal ; formosus a good 

 species with the areolet sub-deltoid and the antennal band white in both 

 sexes ; and MiikUni a variety of the latter, with the central abdominal 

 segments and scutellum paler, and the incisures of the basal segments 

 deeper, which, perhaps, is /. salicatorius^ var. i, Grav. 



