284 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [ Luceros 


Desvignes possessed one very large female in 1856, and both sexes were 
described in Austria in 1857. Nothing was subsequently heard of this 
very conspicuous species till 1897, when Bignell chanced upon “ An 
Assemblage of parasitic Hymenoptera in Devonshire” (E.M.M. 1897, 
p- 158) and took twenty-three specimens, comprising both sexes on May 
5th, 8th and rith, sitting beneath the leaves of a newly expanded beech 
in an oak coppice in Bickleigh Woods, near Plymouth. My description 
is drawn from Curtis and both sexes then taken and given me by Bignell, 
who adds “ when I obtained these I also got several larvae of Asteroscopus 
sphinx, each with seven to nine white eggs on the surface of the skin; I 
had an idea that these might produce £. a/dc/arsus, but, unfortunately, 
they shed their skins about four days after, removing the eggs in the 
operation.” The concealed ovipositor suggests that the eggs would be 
laid on, not under, the hosts’ skin; and the cogeneric species are known 
to prey on Lepidoptera. Gaulle records it also from France. 
MONOBLASTUS, Hartis. 
Htg. Wiegm. Arch. 1837, p. 155. 
Head transverse, generally subtumidous, with face hardly convex; cly- 
peus not discreted, foveate and not pilose on either side; mandibular 
teeth of subequal length. Antennae about as long as body, filiform, with 
the basal flagellar joint longer than the second. Thorax stout, metathorax 
short, with discal areae distinct. Abdomen subsessile, oblong-subfusiform 
and broadly red; first segment gradually constricted basally, bicarinate ; 
terebra short, hardly exserted and not oviferous. Legs normal, not elon- 
gate, with the tarsal claws at least basally pectinate. Wings ample, with 
areolet entire and subpetiolate. 
The right of this genus to an existence apart from Polyblastus is best 
founded, I think, upon the non-larviferous habit of the females, since the 
mere discretion of the clypeus from the face by a transverse sulcus, in 
which it structurally alone differs therefrom, is insufficient for generic dis- 
tinction. Holmgren thought its species preyed upon Lepidopterous 
larvae, but Brischke and Stenton have disproved this by raising many 
from those of Tenthredinidae. They are apt to be confused with the 
smaller species of Zxyphon, which they strongly resemble in the shape of 
the head and abdomen, though the pectination of the claws, especially 
the front ones, is sufficiently obvious. The abdomen is more slender than 
in most Polyd/as/7, and the antennae longer. 
Table of Species. 
(6). 1, Basal segment short, not twice longer 
than apically broad. 
(5). 2. Scutellum and anterior coxae black. 
(4). 3. Costulae obsolete ; face only apically 
flavous «<f uy .. I, NEUSTRIAE, Schr. 
(3). 4. Costulae strong; face nearly entirely 
flavous oe es we .. 2, PALUSTRIS, Holmgr. 
(2). 5. Scutellum and anterior coxae flavous 3. EXSTIRPATORIUS, Grav. 
5 
(1). 6. Basal segment elongate, fully twice 
longer than apically broad. 
(8). 7. Metanotal costae weak; all femora 
mainly black : a re 
(7). 8. Metanotal costae strong ; all femora 
usually red .. in oa .. 5. LONGICORNIS, Holmgr. 
4. CHRYSOPUS, Gmel. 
