Pyracmon'] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 121 



white; hind legs black with their tibiae, except at apex and before base, 

 red. Stigma infuscate, tegiilae and radices flavous ; areolet petiolate, 

 emitting recurrent nervurc at about its centre; apical radial abscissa 

 almost straight; nervellus entire. Length, 6 mm. (J only. 



This appeared to Bridgman "to be a very distinct and undescribcd 

 species; the colour of the hind legs is different from any other of this 

 group." The pedal colouration certainly remarkable; but this insect 

 seems to combine the excavate metathorax of Omorga with the entire 

 nervellus of Afigilia, and I cannot place it. 



The type alone is still known; it was bred by Fletcher in July, 1886, 

 from Gcla/iia Icii/iginosclla, collected at Abbotts Wood near Polegate in 

 Sussex. 



PYRACMON, Holmgr. 



Holmgr. Sv. Ak. Handl. 1858, p. 101 ; Ofv. 1858, p. 326 ; Ophiodc.-;, Htg. Ber. 

 Naturw. Ver. Harz. 1847, col. 18 {ncc Wag. 1828) ; Ophiogastni, Ashra. Canad. 

 Entom. 1900. p. 368. 



Head not very distinctly broader than thorax but strongly buccate and 

 subcubical, with the very broad cheeks and the temples tumidous ; eyes 

 not large, and internally subentire ; face transverse, and a little dilated 

 towards the short and stout mandibles; clypeus laterally foveolate, basally 

 not discreted, apically subtruncate or broadly rounded, immarginate and 

 in our species centrally angled. Antennae filiform, not elongate, apically 

 a little attenuate, with basal flagellar joints discreted. Thorax cylindrical 

 and longer than high; pronotum not strigose, with epomiae obsolete or 

 wanting; metathorax not apically produced, with distinct areae and 

 usually complete carinae; basal area oblong-quadrate, areola elongate 

 and emitting costulae before its centre; spiracles circular or oblong. 

 Abdomen elongate and normally broad, apically somewhat compressed ; 

 basal segment stout and but little curved, with the spiracles immediately 

 behind its centre ; postpetiole nearly twdce as long as broad, and not 

 much broader than the petiole; petiole not broader than high, with 

 distinct lateral sulci ; second segment not transverse, the seventh exserted ; 

 terebra somewhat elongately exserted, curved, with the spicula slender. 

 Legs somewhat stout, with hind ones subelongate; femora incrassate, 

 calcaria short ; tarsal claws somewhat stout, obsoletely pectinate basally. 

 Wings with the areolet large, usually sessile and broad, sometimes penta- 

 gonal; parallel or anal nervure divergent apically from the cubital; 

 nervellus strongly antefurcal, geniculate and distinctly intercepted. 



Schmiedeknecht remarks (()pus. Ichn. 1660) that "the genus Pyracmon 

 looks strange between the genera which come nearest. It forms a con- 

 necting link between the Ophioninac and Xoridiiiae; in my opinion most of 

 the species would be better included in the latter, as is shown not only by 

 the whole structure and habitus, especially the buccate head and the 

 shape of the first segment, but also the mode of life; one finds almost all 

 the species, excepting perhaps P. fiimipcunis, Zett., in dead wood, where 

 they live among beetles, especially Ccramhya'dar and Pupnxlidot.'" This 

 is another proof of association between cubical-headed parasites with 

 xylophagous heists {c/. Ichn. Britt. iii. 2), though I know none among 

 the former family ; Schm. only mentions Kriechbaumer's description of 

 one species out of the Austrian Buprestid, ^l«///(/.v/'(7 qundriputHlato, Linn, 

 (referred to by me, Trans. Ent. Soc. iqii, p.457),and even this may need 

 corroboration in view of I\Ir. Williams' discovery. J2 



