172 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [ Dyspetes 

and apically obtuse; second and third segments subimpressed_trans- 
versely before their apices, and obliquely in their basal angles; basal 
segment scabriculous and more than double length of the stout terebra. 
Legs red, with the coxae darker ; hind legs usually entirely black. Wings 
hyaline or flavescent, with stigma ferrugineous; areolet transverse and 
large, hardly sessile; basal nervure continuous through median ; nervellus 
intercepted slightly below its centre. Length, 7—11 mm. 
Marshall did not believe this to be the original /chneumon praerogator of 
Linnaeus and I have little doubt that he was correct, unless its author 
erred in his statement “habitat in Phalaenae Salicrs larva,” presumably 
copied by Fabricius in 1804 “in Larva Bombyers Salicis.” It would surely 
have been subsequently bred from so closely observed a host, whereas 
the above is the only indication we have respecting the economy of this 
abundant species. On the Continent, however, it appears rarer than with 
us: Gravenhorst found “some” in 1809 only, subsequently recording 
half a dozen from Hope at Netley; Blanchard considered it somewhat 
rare about Paris in 1840; and in Sweden it was not seen till 1883, and 
was unknown to Holmgren. Van Burgst records both sexes from about 
Breda in June. Its distribution is nevertheless very wide, and I have 
seen both sexes from as far East as Darjiling, where they were swept and 
taken at light, at an altitude of six and a half thousand feet. In Britain 
it is one of our very commonest autumn species, constantly observed on 
the tables of roadside umbelliferae, though Stephens’ reference to it in 
June and July is a slip of memory, for it is never abroad before 12th 
August, is in fact rare throughout August, abundant throughout Septem- 
ber and extends to 6th October. It is most frequently seen on reeds and 
Angelica flowers in damp places, though not rarely on Heracleum, ragwort 
and wild carrot flowers in drier situations, in woods it may be beaten from 
hazel, and once I swept it long after night had descended. ‘This species 
flies to flowers, much as does Avefas/es cinctipes, with longly outstretched, 
drooping legs and the antennae bent forwards, with their apices upturned 
and flowing backward; it hovers for only a moment and alights gently, 
with circumspection. I have records from sixteen English counties : 
Kent (Beaumont), Sussex (Bloomfield), Hants (Miss Chawner), Surrey 
(Capron and Stenton—figured), Herts (Piffard), Cornwall (Marquand), 
Devon (Bignell), Dorset (Dale), Somerset (Charbonnier), Gloucester 
(Watkins), Worcester (Gorham), Lincs (Thornley), Norfolk (Bridgman), 
Suffolk (Tomlin and Tuck), Yorks (Bradford Sci. Journ. 1908, p. 71, etc.), 
Lancs (Martineau); Marshall took it in South Wales; Beaumont at 
Enniscorthy and Courten in Ireland; and at Pitlochry in Scotland, Evans 
has sent it me from Edinburgh, Kinghorn, Gullane Links and Craigen- 
tinny; Mallock from Dumbarton, and Elliott from Birnam in Perth. I 
suspect the host of being one of the common Juncus-feeding Doler7; I 
have seventy examples of the parasite: the host must be at least equally 
abundant. 
TREMATOPYGUS, Holmgren. 
Holmgr. Sv. Ak. Handl. 1855, p. 179. 
Body dull and closely punctate throughout. Head dilated or sub- 
dilated behind eyes; clypeus often strongly punctate, generally slightly 
emarginate or broadly rounded apically. Antennae filiform, very rarely 
centrally a little incrassate, with first flagellar joint a little longer than the 
