306 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. \_Asliphromvius 



Most of the five species llalicla) there describes arc now well known, 

 thouifh I liave had to omit I\I. airnan'us, taken on Salix arj4;entea at Port- 

 marnock in Co. Dublin during June and subsequently recorded only by 

 Bignel! from Longbridge in Devon on 27th of the same month. Nor do I 

 understand what Curtis intended to convey (Brit. Ent.) by his two Asti- 

 phrommi, I\J. splcninm and M. scn'cans, though ]^ridgman was more for- 

 tunate, for Bignell tells us that he bred the latter, which is probably A. 

 m(Vi('//7jii/a r/s, Thorns., "from a dipterous pupa, probably Kvon's/a vuli^an's, 

 out oi Abraxas grossitlariata'' (Devon List) ; adding that it is hyperparasitic 

 on the larvae of the Tachinidae, and does not consume its victim until after 

 it has changed into pupa ; therefore there cannot be any doubt that it is 

 hyperparasitic (pjitom. 1880, p. 246 ; to these observations Fitch adds a 

 query at I.e. 188 1, p. 141). Two other species, M. atcr, Ratz, and M. 

 spkndidiilus, Grav., have long stood in the British list ; the former was 

 raised from Lasiocampa pint and Clisiocampa neuslria in Germany, but has 

 not been since noticed ; the latter seems one of those compound names, 

 so often passed in silence because nothing definite can now be said of 

 them, and is recorded by the older authors from several localities in 

 central F.urope ; Vienna (Kirchncr), bred from Dcprcssaria applanclla and 

 from ^Picrogas^cr pcrspiciius through Porihcsia auripna ((nraud, 1877), 

 hyperparasitically from Sphinx populi \\\xq>\X''^\ Microplilis occllatac (Ratz. 

 ii. 48 et Marsh. Bracon. d'Europ. i. 4Qq), and in France from Hypono- 

 mcuta, Apanti'/es, IlPicrogastcr and Cimbcx species, as well as from eggs of 

 the spider, Salthiis (Gaulle). In all probability our claim to it rests on 

 (jravenhorst's note (I.E. i. 717) upon Hope's capture of var. 6 at Netley, 

 but this refers to M. st/tiiiiiis only : Curtis' Irish record and Parfitt's from 

 Alphington (Cat. Ichn. Devon) may do the same. Excluding such doubt- 

 ful names as the above over eighty species of this tribe are recognised in 

 the European fauna and I cannot think this too great a number, when 

 one remembers that a large proportion of the Braconids, especially the 

 Areolari, are destroyed by these consequently injurious Ichneumonids, 

 Haliday possessed twenty-six "very distinct" kinds, says Curtis in 1833. 



I shall treat of our species under three genera only. 



Table of Genera. 



(2). I. Nervellus always intercepted ; paral- 

 lel nervure emitted from centre of 

 brachial cell .. .. AsTirHKu.M-Mrs, TIwDis. 



(i). 2. Nervellus never intercepted ; parallel 

 nervure not emitted from centre 

 of brachial cell. 



(4). j. Seutellar fovea broad and deep ; par- 

 allel emitted above centre of 

 brachial cell ., .. Mksochokis, GV^/y. 



(3). 4. Seutellar fovea transversely linear; 

 parallel emitted below centre of 

 brachial cell S'llCToriSTms, TJioiiis. 



ASTIPHROMMUS, Thomson. 



Thorns. Ann. Soc. Enl. Fr. 1885, p. '.Vll ; (?) Astiphronniia , Forst. Ver. pr. 

 Rheinl. 1868, p. 170. 



Head with the genal sulcus wanting ; upper wings with the parallel 

 nervure usually emitted from centre of the brachial cell ; and the lower 

 with the nervellus very nearly always intercepted. Frons entirely black 



