Paniscus] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 291 



three more or less broad vittae, and often disc of metathorax, infuscate ; 

 mctanotal transcarina wantini^, its spiracles circular. Abdomen discally 

 more or less infuscate, of ^ often except the incisures and of 9 usually to- 

 wards its base; anus of V stron<fly compressed, with terebra nearly as lonj^ 

 as basal segment. Stigma nigrescent ; areolet externally obsolete ; lower 

 basal nervure slightly postfurcal ; parallel ner\ure emitted far above centre 

 of brachial cell. Length, 5-6 mm. 



Distinct in the nigrescent stigma, incomplete areolet and small size ; 

 though the small head and slender form ally it closely to P. /arso/iis. 



A local species, found in Sweden and sometimes common in damp and 

 shadv places in grass among alders in Thuringia. Certainly rare with us ; 

 Bridgman records (Trans. Knt. Soc. 1889, j). 419) a single female, with the 

 abdomen neither basally dark nor apically very compressed, which was 

 captured by Atmore at Kings L\im in Norfolk; and I have one male in 

 Cajjron's Surrey collection. 



3. virgatus, Foiirc. 



Iclnicitinon virgatus, Fourc. E.P. ii. 401 ; Vill. I-inn. Ent. iii. 204. Ofyliioii 

 i'iri<iifiis, Gr. Nov. Act. Curios. 1818, p. 295. PaniscKS xu'ri<(itus, Gv. I.E iii. 

 625; Newport, Trans. Einn. Soc. 1852, .\.\i, p. ttl, pi. viii, figg. 13-19 ; Ilolmgr. 

 Sv. Ak. Handl. 1858, p. 32, <? ? . Parabatiis virgatus, Thorns. O.Ii. xii. 1197; 

 Brauns, Arch. Nat. Meckl. 1889, p. 80 ; Schm. Opusc. Ichn. p. 185:?, j ? . 



Rufescent-testaceous with three mesonolal vittae, and a sternal mark, 

 conspicuously black. Length, 7-12 mm. 



Instantly known bv the black thoracic markings, rotund-o\al meta- 

 thoracic spiracles, obsolete or wanting transcarina, subelongate basal 

 segment, hardly exserted terebra, and by the white or stramineous hind 

 tarsi. 



One of the commonest European species, extending to Algeria; but 

 distinctly uncommon with us. Hope sent a couple of malc^s to Grav- 

 enhorst from Netley, and Bridgman says Thouless took it in Koxley 

 Wood in Norfolk ; I possess but a single female and three males, taken 

 by Elliott at I^anchory in Kincardine during August, 1909, (E..M..M. 1910, 

 p. 37), bred at Rannoch on 7th July, 1905, by Cockayne trom Oporahia 

 di/ii/ahi, and at Ipswich by myself. Lyle has twice bred it from larvae 

 of ihe same geometer in the New Eorest on 26th June, 19 1^, and 

 2Sth June, 191 1, and especially noted it to be a solitary parasite in 

 both; a huge female of 15 mm., beaten from hawthorn on 251!! .Ma\, 

 contained between fifty and sixty black o\a. 



Ijridg. -Fitch summarise (Entom. 1884, p. 12+) Newport's excellent 

 account of this species' life-history — which I consider to refer more 

 pro])erI\ to /\ crisfa/us — in the Linnean Transactions. "The parent 

 Ichneumon deposits her black, shining, pedunculate eggs on the cater- 

 pillar of //(uhiia pisi, when this is nearly full-grown and ready to pupate-. 

 The fated larva, exhausted by the parasites, has but suHicient strength 

 to complete and tapestry its cocoon or earlhern chamber, as tJie ca.se 

 may be, before it dies, leaving its newly-iormed abodi' to the occujja- 

 tion of its enemies, wjiich grow rapidly, casting their skins three times; 

 but as the body of the larva is still connected with the egg-shell they 

 are not entirely got rid of until the larva is mature and becomes de- 

 tached, before forming its own black, cylindrical, leather-like cocoon. 

 The larva is mature on the fifteenth day: it is more than half-an-inch 



