172 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 



4. castigator, Fab. 



Ichueumon castigator, Fab. E. S. ii. 166 ; Piez. 68 ; Gr. I. E. i. 125, excl. var. i ; 

 Ste. 111. M. vii. 131. Amblyieks castigator, Wesm. Nouv. W(^vc\. Ac. Brux. 1S44, p. 129; 

 Bui. Ac. Brux. 1854, p. 123 ; Ilolmgr. Ichn Suec. ii. 272 ; Berth. Ann. Soc. Fr. 1895, 

 P' 595> i ? • CteiiichiieiD/ion castigator, Thorns. O. E. xix. 2087. 



A black species with red legs. Head black, cheeks hardly dilated. 

 Antennae slender, setaceous ; black, very rarely dotted centrally with white, 

 basal half of fiagellum more or less red beneath ; of S with basal joints 

 sub-cylindrical, apical ones sub-nodulose. Thorax entirely black ; areola 

 usually transverse, costulae incomplete ; apophyses wanting or tuberculi- 

 form. Scutellum black, only slightly convex, sparsely punctate. Abdomen 

 dull black, apically nitidulous ; post-petiole aciculate, rougher in S , bi- 

 carinate, with apical angles rounded ; gastrocaeli sub-circular, large and 

 deeply impressed, intervening space rugose-aciculate ; S with genital val- 

 vulae normal and the fourth ventral segment not plicate. Legs clear 

 red ; coxae and trochanters black, hind tibiae except usually towards 

 their apices, and tarsi, nigrescent. Wings sub-hyaline, stigma fulvous, or 

 testaceous, rarely piceous. Length, 15-17 mm. 



This species may at once be known, though it bears a certain resem- 

 blance to Ichneumon quaesitoriiis and /. cessaior, by its black scutellum, 

 slender flagellum, the fulvous stigma and legs, as well as by the nodulose 

 and not serrate antennal joints of the c^. Bridgman noticed the variation 

 in colour of the stigma and in outline of the areola. It is also very 

 similar to Amblyteles camelinus, Wesm., in which, however, the scutellum 

 is strongly elevated. 



Undoubtedly quite a common species in Britain ; it occurs on shrubs 

 and umbelliferous flowers and has been bred from Vajiessa Atalanta, V. lo, 

 V. cardui, Argynnis Paphia, Gortyna flavago, Dianthaecia carpophaga, 

 and Hadena oleracea ; as well as, on the Continent where it is common 

 extending to northern Africa, from CucuUia absinthii, Ncnagria sparga?iii 

 and Ckora viduaria. It occurs, commonly, in Norfolk ; Essex ; about 

 Hastings ; at Plym Bridge, Devon, at the end of June ; and Stephens says 

 it was not uncommon, about London, towards the end of June and be- 

 ginning of July, and had been also taken in Shropshire and South Wales. 

 I have seen examples, taken by Miss Ethel Chawner in the New Forest; Mr. 

 Hamm, at Shotover, in June; Mr. Beaumont, at Appledore, in September; 

 Mr. F. H. Day, near Carlisle; and Mr. W. A. Luff, in Alderney. Mr. E. G. J. 

 Sparke has bred it from Aiuphydasis hetularia, in June, and I reared the 

 female, at Ipswich, from a pupa of Taeniocampa instabilis, in 1893. It 

 gnaws round and entirely removes the capital extremity of its host's 

 chrysalis in a somewhat irregular circle, having spun within and upon it a 

 loose cocoon of coarse grey strands. Mr. F. H. Peachell has also bred the 

 male from the last-named host, in the middle of March, at Weymouth ; 

 this example was " forced," which process apparently had a deleterious 

 effect upon it, since the left intermediate tibia is strongly foreshortened, 

 internally emarginate, with the inferior calcar recurved. I have seen an 

 example from St. Albans. 



5. plicatus, sp. n. 



Black ; head anteriorly, mouth parts, callosities at radix, scutellum, 

 margins of four apical segments, ventral fold, tibiae, tarsi and stigma, 



