INTRODUCTORY PAPERS ON lOHNEUMONID^. 183 



species in his 1879 Catalogue, and several have been added since, 

 as will be seen. Kirchner and Dours include Agriotypus. 



Ratzeburg mentions the Cryptidse as parasitic on five orders 

 of insects, — the Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, 

 and Neuroptera, — and subsequent scattered observations confirm 

 this diverse parasitism, as will be seen when the genera are 

 treated in detail. We also know that several species of Pezomachi 

 and Hemiteles have been bred from spider's eggs, and both these 

 genera are commonl}^ hyperparasitic on other Ichneumonidse and 

 Braconidse ; probably this is also their role when so especially 

 attached to the case-bearing Lej)idoptera (Psycliidce, Coleo- 

 pliorcB, &c.). The species are mostly gregarious in their 

 parasitism, several being bred from one host, and the sexes are 

 always very unequally developed, — all males or all females being 

 bred, or never hardly more equally than within ten per cent, of 

 one another ; thus one male or female to ten females or males, as 

 the case may be. Most of the species spin their gold-beater's- 

 skin-like cocoons generally within the cocoon or case of their 

 victim, when lepidopterous ; they appear to be especially attached 

 to the case-bearing or cocoon-making species. Westwood says, 

 " In a species of Cryptus, of which I have observed the trans- 

 formations, the cocoon is long, cylindric, and rounded at each 

 end ; and I distinctly noticed that it was composed of three 

 separate layers, the two interior being very shining, and of a 

 gummy membranous texture, and each of them formed of a 

 distinct elongated cap at each end of the cocoon." Mr. INlink 

 notices a jumping hymenopterous pupa, belonging to a species of 

 Cryptus (Tijd. v. Ent. xv. 285). 



Unlike the Ichneumonidse, the Cryptidse are not sun- or 

 flower-loving insects, but they are generally found at the roots of 

 low plants, or amongst dead leaves and debris in dry ditches, or 

 at the roots of old trees, running or skipping about, with their 

 antennfE rapidly vibrating ; they seem very partial to clumps of 

 tansy, and are frequently found on nettle, mint, or other leaves 

 when covered with lione3'-dew ; a few of the larger species, as 

 Cryptus tarsohucus, C. assertorius, C. analis, C. peregrinator, and 

 Phygadeuoii jitcundus, Sec, are, however, to be found on the 

 blooms of Pastinaca, Angelica, and other Umbelliferje. ]Miiny 

 of the females, and all the Pezomachi, appear to hybernate, 

 as they are frequently found, under moss and loose bark 



