IS BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. iMegasiyks 



broad; anus explanatc, witli dense and siibclongate pubescence. Legs 

 slender and rufescent with the hind ones elongate, and their tarsi and 

 apices of tibiae nigrescent ; calcaria almost longer than onychii. Wings 

 narrow, with tegulae whitish ; parallel nervure emitted below centre of 

 brachial cell ; nervellus somewhat distinctly geniculate. Length, 

 6^-8 mm. 



Known by the short cheeks with no sulci, alutaceous mesopleurae, 

 strong notauli, geniculate nervellus and the constriction of the radial cell 

 before its apex. 



Schjodte frequently found it in Danish woods during autumn, some- 

 times copiously among alders; Holmgren records it from woods in 

 Sweden and Lapland ; Forster took it about Aix ; Brischke also found it 

 in Prussia; Gaulle knows it in France, and Schm. tells us it is not un- 

 common in shady and grassy places in Thuringia. In Britain, Haliday 

 mentions it from England and shady places in Ireland ; I do not under- 

 stand why he and Schjodte applied the same specific name nor who ought 

 to have priority, which I have simply followed custom in according to 

 the latter. Haliday remarks that this species is "very active, and is con- 

 tinually rolling and unrolling the spiral of its antennae " (referred to by 

 INIarshall, Braconides d'Europe, iii. 91). It is by no means common with 

 us, occurring rather in marshes than woods and probably passing the 

 winter in the perfect state, for, besides those recorded from Shere by 

 Capron (Entom. 1880, p. 8g), I have only seen it between the 8th and 

 26th September and between the 17th and 21st May, in the New Forest, 

 Tuddenham Fen, Covehithe Broad and Tostock in Sufiblk, where the 

 female was taken in 1898 and 1900 by Tuck. 



2. conformis, Forst. 

 MegiisfyUis conformis. Forst. Verb. pr. Rheinl. 1871, p. 105, c^ ? . 



Head posteriorly constricted and small, with mouth pale. Antennae 

 of 9 45-jointed; of ^ very slender, filiform and nearly as long as body, 

 with scape entirely testaceous. Thorax black with the pro- and meso- 

 sternum and mesopleurae testaceous ; mesonotum strongly nitidulous, 

 with only obsolete apical notauli; propleurae and whole metathorax black, 

 the latter not very dull with obsolete areae and only the petiolar basally 

 strong. Scutellum testaceous, with its basal sulcus red. Abdomen black 

 and somewhat shining with third segment nearly entirely, and in J* the 

 fourth segment mainly, pale testaceous ; basal segment straight, sub- 

 parallel-sided, with central spiracles and no discal sulcus; terebra hardly 

 visible beyond anus. Legs entirely pale testaceous with all the onychii, 

 apices of hind tibiae broadly and of their femora narrowly nigrescent. 

 Wings narrow with stigma luteous, tegulae dull pure white ; basal nervure 

 not continuous and nervellus strongly geniculate. Length, 6 mm. 



This species differs from all others known to Forster in having the 

 mesopleurae pale, propleurae black whereas in Jl/. cruentator they are 

 testaceous, and the abdomen centrally pale with immaculate metapleurae. 

 It is much smaller, paler and more fragile than the last species with 

 notauli obsolete and basal nervure not continuous. I am not sure that it 

 were not more correctly placed in Dkolus, on account of its subbasally 

 impressed metathorax, where it is certainly closely allied to D. excuhitor, 



