246 



BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 



(15). 18. Coxae simple before carinae, red, with tooth 



alone infuscate' ( 27. fulvitarsis. 



(6). 19. Carinae not produced apically. I ~9- KUSTICATUS. 



(25). 20. Carinae distinct. 

 (24). 21. Carinae acute, reaching" apex of coxae. 



(23). 22. Coxae red, distinctly aciculate before carinae I j^- i2;hiomelinus. 

 (22). 23. Coxae black or piceous, indistinctly aciculate 9' ,,,„,,',„ * 



^ ' ~> 1 ' ■' I ID. INHMU.S, 



(21). 24. Carinae scopuliform, not reaching- apex ; ( 7. .STIPATOR. 



coxae not aciculate ■ 14. FUSCICORNIS. 



(21. NANUS. 



(20). 25. Carinae sub-obsolete 15. trkpidus. 



(i). 26. Coxae mutic 19. impiger. 



I. argutus, JJ'^esm. 



Phaeogenes argiittts, Wesm. Nouv. ]\Iem. Ac. Brux. 1S44, p. 201 ; Biisch. Schr. Nat. 

 Ges. Danz. 1878, n. 6, p. 57 ; Berth. Ann. Soc. Fr. 1896, p. 383, i ?. JMevesia argiita, 

 Hohngr. Ichn. Suec. iii. 419 ; Thorns. O. E. xv. 1629, i ? . 



Head sub-buccate, frons convex, deeply impressed ; face strongly pro- 

 tuberant ; epistoma longer than broad ; mandibles narrow, teeth of nearly 

 equal length, the upper acute ; clypeus completely discreted, its apical 

 margin entire ; ? with mouth, clypeus and sometimes the facial orbits, 

 red ; $ with mouth, clypeus, apices of cheeks, and the face, white. An- 

 tennae with scape apically deeply excised without ; of $ apically incrassate : 

 of $ as long as body, dark above, pale, with scape white, below. Thorax 

 black, with lines at radix and often pronotum, especially in $ , pale ; 

 notailli distinct ; areola short, sub-lunate, costulae emitted before its 

 centre ; petiolar area longitudinally excavate. Abdomen elongate-fusiform, 

 sub-glabrous, shining ; segments two to five apically, or nearly entirely, 

 pale ; six and seven of 9 pale fulvous ; post-petiole finely aciculate ; 

 thyridii transverse, pale and very distinct. Legs of S whitish, hind 

 femora, base and apex of hind tibiae, and their tarsi, infuscate ; of $ pale 

 fulvous, with hind ones partly fuscous. Stigma stramineous ; radix and 

 tegulae whitish ; nervellus oblique and the lower margin of the hind wings 

 densely and evenly ciliate. Length, 4-6 mm. 



This and the next species may be known from the remainder of the 

 genus by having the transverse anal nervure of the hind wing not inter- 

 cepted ; but Thomson retained Holmgren's genus Mevesia primarily on 

 account of its longer clypeus and epistoma, its semi-globose head and the 

 female's smooth and sub glabrous abdomen. 



Undoubtedly a common British species. Eaton and Earlham, near 

 Norwich, where Bridgman first found it in Britain ; 'W'ilson Saunders took 

 it at Reigate, and Greenings, in 1873 ; Piffard has found it not uncom- 

 monly, at Felden, in Herts. ; Beaumont, at Harting, in Sussex, at the end 

 of August, and Kilmore ; and Dalglish has sent it to me, from Orookotom, 

 in Scotland ; I have several times turned it up, at roots of grass, during 

 the winter, in Bentley Woods. On the ist September, iSgr, Mr. Richardson 

 bred a female, which I have examined, from Stepheiisia bnoinicheNa, at 

 Paignton, near Torquay. It has not before been bred, though recorded 

 from Sweden, Belgium, Germany, etc. 



