Microleptes | BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 25 

subcylindrical and apically truncate ; pedicellus glabrous and circular ; 
flagellum of fourteen moniliform and strongly setiferous, transverse joints, 
of which the basal alone is cylindrical and half as long again as apically 
broad. Thorax deplanate, immaculate, subglabrous and strongly nitidu- 
lous, with distinct and elongate notauli; mesosternum deplanate and not 
discreted from their pleurae, both glabrous; metathorax convex, finely 
scabriculous and apically truncate, with strong costae; areola large, 
coalesced with basal area, apically rounded and entire ; costulae short 
and entire; supracoxal areae subproduced laterally; spiracular areae 
smoother, subconcave, with the circular spiracles facing upward; petiolar 
area trans-striate, discreted and about half length of areola. Scutellum 
deplanate, glabrous and not margined. Abdomen deplanate, fusiform 
and glittering black, with short and sparse white hairs; basal segment 
petiolate and gradually explanate throughout, discally bicarinate to the 
densely aciculate apex, glabrous between carinae, with obsolete spiracles 
very slightly beyond its centre; second segment as long as its apical 
breadth, with distinct thyridii; anus subcompressed, with the eighth seg- 
ment stramineous and terebra not exserted. Legs short and somewhat 
stout, entirely pale testaceous, with only the hind coxae darker basally 
above, and the front femora distinctly incrassate; coxae deplanate be- 
neath ; claws elongate, very slender and simple; basal joint of front tarsi 
strongly arcuate; intermediate calcaria of subequal length; external hind 
calcar nearly as long as breadth of their tibial apex. Wings hyaline, 
somewhat narrow and not ample; radix, tegulae, the triangular stigma 
and the nervures, testaceous; areolet wanting, basal abscissa of radius 
very short and emitted from centre of stigma, the apical subreflexed ; 
intercubital nervure distinct and as long as space between it and the 
exfenestrate second recurrent; basal nervure curved and exactly con- 
tinuous through the median. Nervures of hind wings with the apical, 
and the strongly sinuate median basally, obsolete; nervellus antefurcal 
and not intercepted. Length, 54mm. Q only. 
This description, drawn from two females taken by Desvignes, in the 
British Museum, agrees very well with the short one of Gravenhorst 
except in the number of antennal joints, which he computes as “ circiter 
22”; but only nineteen are figured by Westwood in Steph. Illus. 1835, 
pl. xl, which may represent the ¢ of the present insect, though the basal 
segment is not explanate throughout, the notauli are wanting and 
nervellus is strong. Brullé first suggested vaguely some analogy with 
Exochus in 1846 and Desvignes placed his females in that section about 
1860, though in his Cat. of 1856 he left it, as placed by Gravenhorst, 
next after (misprinted synonymous with) Brachypterus. Blanchard and 
Westwood add nothing to our knowledge ; and. Bridg.-Fitch in 1882 are 
satisfied to leave’ it in the division of the Jchneumoninae, for which 
Marshall had erected the name JAficrolepti in 1872; Berthoumieu, yet 
more vaguely, relegates A/icroleptes to the Tryphoninae (cf. Ichn. Brit. 
1, 291). 
Of this exclusively British species, Hope sent Gravenhorst a single 
specimen from Netley in Shropshire ; Stephens writes: ‘ Found at Charl- 
ton in August”’; and Desvignes found the two females here described, 
which Bridg.-Fitch mistook for Stephens’ capture. Prof. Poulton is 
good enough to tell me that not even a pin-hole adorns the space left 
by Westwood for this species in Hope’s collection, at Oxford; so it is 
extremely improbable that Stephens’ figure was drawn from the type, now 
hopelessly lost. 
