P<!>l/Sl//S~\ 



BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 



297 



transccirina wanting or at most distinct laterally. Scutellum laterally 

 carinate to apex. Petiole elongate, with its lateral foveae not black. 

 Legs distinctly slender, with front tarsi basally strongly arcuate. Stigma 

 very pale testaceous; lower basal nervure oblique, strongly postfurcal. 

 Length (British), q-i2mm. 



I possess numerous examples of a species, agreeing exactly with 

 P. opiniiliis except in their smaller and more fragile body, paler colour, 

 almost entirely pale antennae, slightly narrower vertex, almost transparent 

 stigma, and especially in the curved front tarsi. This I believe to be 

 P. gracilipes, not hitherto noticed in Britain, though the lower basal 

 nervure is not unusually oblique and the metanotal carina varies from 

 laterally strong to altogether wanting. To it I assign the smaller hosts of 

 P. fcsfaceiis, given by the older authors. My examples are at once known 

 bv the basal joint of the front tarsi in S being strongly curved through- 

 out, and of 9 basally inflexed.* 



Abundant in Sweden and Cermany ; France and in July in P)elgium. 

 It is abundant with us though hitherto regarded as a small race of P. itshi- 

 iTus ; I have it from South Leverton (Thornley), Colwyn, Lewisham and 

 Church Stretton, all in Aug. (Beaumont), Ipswich at light in Sept. and 

 Oct. (Flatten), Staiham in Norfolk during Sept. (Bird), captured at large 

 on 17th March, 1902, at Lincoln (Musham), bred from Epiaida viminalis 

 at Doncaster on 23rd August, i8qq, and from unknown host at Burnley 

 (Clutten), Leeds in Aug. 1868 (Roebuck) and York (Porritt). It has 

 usually occurred to me at light, frequently at electric light in the middle 

 of Ipswich, especially in 1895, during July, August and October; and 

 males have come in to my study light there in May and June, as well as 

 at Stoke Newington, London. Elsewhere it has been swept once from 

 reeds in Covehithe Broad and taken In the adjacent town of Southwold ; 

 it would appear to be a garden insect, since I have netted it flying in 

 Ipswich at dusk and about a box-bush here at Monks Soham in June. 



Early in iqoo Ransom sent me males, bred by him at Sudbury in 

 Sufiolk from larvae of Mclajiippc fliictiiata, with the note, "They do not 

 emerge from the pupae, for I find them as distinct pupae in my breeding 

 box; when the larvae of fluctuata are full-fed they burrow in the usual^ 

 way and it appears that the parasite in changing to a pupa also casts off 

 the skin of its host." On qth October, i8qq, Mr. Clutten sent four 

 external larvae, each attached by its mouth to a calcrpillar of Burnley 

 Melaiiippa flucttiata ; these larvae (see fig.) were pale brown or greenish, 



with the central dorsal 

 line darker and pale 

 margined ; the mouth, 

 which alone I .saw used 

 in progression, is on 

 the lower surface and 

 appears longitudinally 

 black when viewed from 

 above through the in- 

 tervening tissue; a median ventral band isrufescent; there are no legs; the 

 spiracular line is discreted, fleshy and whitish ; each sjjiracle bears a short 

 and stout bristle, doubtless as a means of propulsion ; the vent is upon the 

 upper surface of the apical segment and is elevated, red, corneous, smooth, 

 truncate with a longitudinal carina in the centre, reminding one forcibly 

 of a short and blunt Si)liingid larva horn; the mature larva (see fig.) was 



U2 



1 Larva. 



2 Anus 



