l66 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 



apically ; costulae entire. Scutellum white. Abdomen black and shining 

 with segments one to three or four, except apex of latter, red or in 6 

 flavous ; first segment of c? laterally smooth and shining, rarely black; 

 gastrocaeli sub-obsolete, being indicated by a slight longitudinal depres- 

 sion ; h\popygium of $ not reaching^ apex, terebra exserted ; 3 with two 

 to four ventral segments plicate. Legs somewhat slender, black ; tibiae 

 and tarsi, except apices of hind ones, and the front femora, red. Wings 

 hyaline ; stigma fulvous ; tegulae of $ piceous, of <3 white. Length, 

 IO-I2 mm. 



This strongly shining and extremely linear species can hardly be mis- 

 taken for anything else among the Ichneumoninae ; it is well figured with 

 details by \Vesmael in his " Amblyp. Europ." 



On the Continent, it is said to be rather widely distributed throughout 

 the central and northern regions, and is recorded from the dunes, near 

 Ostend, in September. Bridgman and Fitch say it is not common generally, 

 and I kiiow of no specified records of it, except that from Essex. Mr. E. 

 A. Elliott has captured the male at Birnam, in Perth, early in August, and 

 in a sandy place, near the coast at Hayburn Wyke, near Scarborough, in 

 the middle of August ; indeed, it would appear to be a coast insect with 

 us, since I have also taken the male, by sweeping Malricaria flowers, near 

 the beach, at Southwold, in Suffolk, early in August, and two females by 

 searching at the roots of marram grass, on the north dunes, at Lowestoft, 

 towards the end of the same month. It is said to prey upon Hydrilla 

 (Miami) arcuosa, Eiibolia inensuraria, Tapiiiosiola elymi, and Miami 

 literosa { = Apajnea si/ffunmciiia, Tr.) ; and to be very rare in Germany. 



HYPOMECUS, Wesmael. 

 Wesm. Nouv. Mem. Ac. Brux 1844, p. ill. 



Body slender. Head not buccate, narrowed behind the eyes and to- 

 wards the mouth ; clypeus sub-convex, separated from face, apically sub- 

 truncate and mutic, lateral foveae deeply impressed ; mandibles slender, 

 the teeth unequal. Antennae setaceous, nearly length of body, those of S 

 with tenth to fourteenth flagellar joints externally sub-dilated ; white-banded 

 Thorax slender, sub-convex ; pronotum with no central tubercle ; meta- 

 notum areated ; spiracles oval. Scutellum short, sub-quadrate, slightly 

 convex, laterally margined at the base only. Abdomen elongate, narrow ; 

 petiole slender ; thyridii somewhat large, remote from base of second 

 segment ; apical segments of $ sub-compressed, the apical ventral nearly 

 vomeriform and reachijig slightly beyond the eighth dorsal, which is sub- 

 exserted. Legs slender ; hind tibiae a little arcuate basally ; onyches 

 simple ; hind tarsi white-banded. Wings normal ; areolet narrowed above. 



Thomson places this genus among the Platyuri/ii, but he has not been 

 followed by subsequent authors, and the present appears to be its most 

 natural position, although it is not closely allied to the genera in either 

 sub-tribe. The petiole, though sub-linear, is not broader than vertically 

 thick ; and the present appears allied to the preceding genus in its elongate 

 form, slender legs, absent-peliolar carinae and in the long, apically sub- 

 compressed abdomen, filiform $ antennae, the joints of which are, how- 

 ever, much longer, and in its clypeus being sub-quadrate and much further 

 produced. 



