BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 265 



or black with incisures rufescent ; post-petiole transverse, shining, smooth 

 in ? , sparsely sub-punctate in S , which has the second segment basally 

 narrowed and dull with broad thyridii. Legs red ; S with all the coxae 

 and trochanters mainly white, those of $ sometimes infuscate ; hind legs 

 of variable colour, normally blackish, with femora basally and often tibiae 

 red ; coxae mutic. Stigma fuscous ; radix and usually tegulae white. 

 Length, 6-8 mm. 



Found near Hertford and in Darenth Wood ; not common (Stephens) ; 

 captured at Bickleigh, 3rd August, and at Plym Bridge, 24th September 

 (Bignell). This is a common species in Britain ; Mr. Piffard has several 

 times taken it at Felden, in Herts., and Mr. J. H. Keys has given me a 

 specimen taken at Ivybridge, near Plymouth, in moss during hibernation, 

 in February, 1894. I have beaten it out of fir trees in Bentley Woods in 

 the middle of April. On the Continent it is somewhat widely distributed, 

 and has been bred from Cerostoma sp. by Van Vollenhoven. 



2. subtilicornis, Grav, 



Ichneumon sithtilkornis, Gr. I. E. i. 592, excl. $ . Diadroinns subtilicornis, Wesm. 

 Mem. couron. Ac. Belg. 1S59, p. 72, <J ; Brisch. Schr. Nat. Ges. Danz. 1878, n. 6, 

 p. 58, ? ; Holmgr. Ichn. Suec. iii. 396 ; Thorns. O. E. xv. 1633 ; Berth. Ann, Soc. Fr. 

 1896, p. 355, (J ? . D. iinhellis, Wesm. Nouv. Mem. Ac. Brux. 1844, p. 209 ; Holmgr. 

 Sv. Ak. Handl. 1S54, p. 47, ?. 



Head triangular from in front, hardly narrowed behind the eyes, black ; 

 vertex not broad ; frons finely punctate and somewhat shining ; palpi and 

 the weak mandibles often rufescent. Antennae fuscous ; flagellum ferru- 

 gineous at least beneath, with no pale band. Thorax entirely black ; 

 areola quadrate ; petiolar area elongate, sub-impressed. Abdomen narrow, 

 black ; segments two to four generally red, in $ with more or less preva- 

 lent black discal marks ; the following in $ with incisures rufescent ; post- 

 petiole distinctly and irregularly aciculate ; second and third segments 

 alutaceous, former in ? with confluent thyridii ; anus not compressed ; 

 terebra distinctly exserted. Legs slender, red ; anterior sometimes with 

 tarsi and base of coxae infuscate ; hind ones with coxae, apex of femora 

 and tibiae, base of latter and the tarsi, infuscate ; coxae of $ with a punc- 

 tiform tooth or small cistula beneath. Stigma fuscous ; radix and tegulae 

 whitish, latter sometimes fulvous. Length, 5-8 mm. 



The legs of the female are occasionally entirely red, and the male some- 

 times has all the femora or the whole of the hind ones infuscate ; the male 

 rarely has the third segment clear red. 



This is another probably common, though overlooked, species in Britain. 

 I have taken it in the marshes, at Brandon, in Suffolk, in June. Billups, 

 who considers this a " very rare " species, records the emergence of three 

 females from As;rotis Ashworihii, in Britain. It is somewhat widely dis- 

 tributed on the Continent, and occurs in France in August; Brischke bred 

 it from a Tortrix (? Semasia corollana, Hiib.) pupa in a tumid twig from 

 Fopulus iremiiia, in Prussia. 



3. varicolor, JVesvi. 



Diadromns varicolor, Wesm. Nouv. Mi5m. Ac. Brux. 1844, p. 211 ; Bui. Ac. Brux. 

 1848, p. 331 ; Holmgr. Ichn. Suec. iii. 392 ; Thorns. O. E. xv. 1632 ; Berth. Ann. Soc. 

 Fr. 1896, p. 361, d 9; cf. Bridg. Trans. Ent. Soc. 1889, p. 413, <J. Var. D. inter- 



