134 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



J'amipermis, Eotz, in the smooth, second abdominal segment. It 

 is near variepcs, Euthe, which has the first segment smooth, and 

 is very hke, but not, eremita, Euthe, that being a gregarious 

 parasite and constructing totally different cocoons ; differs widely 

 from adimca in the colour of the legs and in haying the second 

 ■cubital areolet not particularly small. 



I have several times swept this insect from heather in the 

 New Forest in July (21st to 31st), also one specimen on Mny 

 10th, 1911, and have bred it, as a solitary parasite, from half- 

 grown larvse oi Anarta myrtilli, August 5th and 8th, 1911. 



Tristes, Nees.* 



A shining black species with dark wings. Very near dolens, 

 and I am almost inclined to doubt if it is really distinct from 

 that species. 



Marshall gives the scutellum as smooth, with the fore femora 

 at apex and all the tibiae obscurely rufous, which does not agree 

 with my specimens, for in them the scutellum shows distinct 

 punctuation, and the fore femora, with the exception of tbe 

 extreme base, the middle femora at apex, and all tbe tibia3 are 

 clear rufo-testaceous. Cocoons gregarious, pale-reddish, rather 

 more woolly, and somevvbat ligbter in colour than those of 

 mediator ; constructed beneath the surface of the ground. A 

 very common parasite of larvae of the genus Dianthoecia 

 appearing in broods of from twelve to twenty. I have reared 

 broods from larvae of D. capsincola taken at Deal and Paignton, 

 and from D. cucuhali taken at the latter place by Colthrup, and 

 have found it preying commonly on larvae of D. capsincola near 

 Cambridge. Shortly after sunset on the evening of September 

 1st, 1917^ I noticed, in a wind-swept field, a female of this species 

 slowly crawling on a campion head which evidently contained a^ 

 caterpillar. Boxing both seed-head and insect, I carried them 

 in my pocket for some five miles, and on reaching home was 

 surprised to find that the jolting received had apparently not 

 greatly disturbed the Braconid, as it was still leisurely 

 examining the seed-head with its antennae, and even on the 

 following morning I found it similarly engaged. In spite of 

 such perseverance, however, it did not succeed in reaching the 

 concealed larva, which duly pupated a week or ten days later. 



Sordipes, Nees.t 



First recorded as British by Morley (' Entom.,' xxxix, p. 103), 

 who mentions a specimen reared at Ely from Acronycta psi and 

 another from the New Forest. A shining black species with the 

 legs testaceous, only coxae and hind tnrsi fuscous; first abdominal 

 segment slightly rugulose, second quite smooth. Very similar to 



* ' Mon.,' i, 13. 168. 

 + 'Mon.,' i, p. 167. 



