294 BRITISH ICGHNEUMONS. | Polyblastus 

straight and black. Legs slender and black, only the anterior femora red 
with their tibiae and the front tarsi paler; basal half of tarsal claws dis- 
tinctly pectinate. Areolet subsessile, emitting recurrent nervure but 
slightly before its apex; stigma and tegulae piceous; radial nervure 
apically straight; nervellus intercepted but slightly below its centre. 
Length,7 mm. 6 unknown. 
Bridgman’s description is poor and he mentions no allied species; it 
appears to me to be little more than an intermediate form with the black 
hind femora and abdominal colouration of P. varit/arsus, var. Slenhammeri, 
combined with the immaculate hind tarsi and tibiae of P. cothurnatus. 
“Taken by the Rev. T. A. Marshall in south Devonshire,” though not 
recorded thence by Bignell. 
5. variitarsus, Grav. 
Tryphon varitarsus, Gr. 1. E. ii. 222; i. 688; Curt. B. E. pl. cccxcix; Ste. Ill, 
M. vii. 247, ¢ 2. Polyblastus varitarsus, Htg. Wiegm. Arch. 1837, p. 155; Schidd. 
Guér. Mag. 1839, p.17; Nat. Tidskr. 1847, p.98; Holmgr. Sv. Ak. Handl. 1854, 
p. 71; lib. cit. 1855, p. 204, pl. viii, fig. 15; Brisch. Schr. Nat. Ges. Danz. 1878, 
p.97; Davis, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 1897, p. 263, ¢ ?. Var. Tryphon albovinc- 
tus, Gr. I. E, ii. 224; Ste. Ill. M. vii. 247; Polyblastus albovinctus, Htg. Wiegm. 
Arch. 1837, p.155, ¢. P. Stenhammari, Holmgr. Sv. Ak. Handl. 1855, 
p- 205, 3 @. 
A shining and pubescent species, black with the abdomen centrally, 
anterior legs mainly and hind femora, red; hind legs white-banded. Cly- 
peus subimpressed before its apex; face with white pilosity; mouth 
flavous. Antennae as long as body and apically piceous beneath. Meta- 
thorax somewhat short with five distinct areae. Scutellum not pyramidal. 
Basal segment distinctly constricted basally, and laterally depressed, with 
distinct carinae extending beyond its centre; second and third segments 
transverse and red, 9 with fourth and ¢@ often with apex of first con- 
colorous ; terebra very shortly exserted, oviferous and black. Legs black 
with all the femora, the anterior tibiae and tarsi, red; hind legs slender 
with the black tibiae and tarsi broadly white-banded; apical joint of hind 
tarsi hardly double length of penultimate. Areolet entire, irregular and 
subpetiolate ; apical abscissa of radial nervure centrally curved; radix 
flavidous; nervellus intercepted hardly below its centre. Length, 
4—84 mm. 
It is at once recognised by the distinct hind pedal colouration and 
harrow petiole. 
Authors appear to have overlooked Hartig’s inclusion of Z. albovinctus 
in this genus so early as 1837, since Brischke first considered it a variety 
of this species, though Marshall four years earlier had left it in its original 
genus, and this is confirmed by Pfankuch from the type specimens (cf. also 
Bridg. Trans. Ent. Soc. 1882, p. 158). This variety appears to differ in 
nothing but the lack of pale hind tarsal band and the often duller one on 
the hind tibiae ; it seems to form a link connecting this species with P. 
cothurnatus, to which I am inclined to grudge specific rank. P. Sfen- 
hammari has not been mentioned since first described by Holmgren, who 
says it has the structure of P. varit/arsus and there is nothing in his 
description to justify specific rank ; the scape beneath with the anterior 
trochanters and most of their coxae are flavous, the central segments are 
usually darker, and the hind femora are black. I possess specimens with 
black hind femora and broadly red abdomen, and consider them to be 
