CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH BRACONID.E. 51 



€ONTPJBUTIONS TO OUE KNOWLEDGE OF THE 

 BRITISH BRACONID.E. 



No. 3. MlCROGASTERID^. 



By G. T. Lyle, F.E.S. 



(Continued from vol. xlix, p. 272.) 



Section' 2. — Apanteles. 



The majority of the species included in this section are 

 parasitic on the larvte of Alicro-Lepidoptera, and consequently 

 are not so well known as those which prey on the " Macros." 

 Since the days of George Elisha and W. H. B. Fletcher there 

 seem to have been but few students of the earlier stages of our 

 smaller moths who have preserved the far from uncommon 

 hymenopterous parasites. It is to be hoped that the volume on 

 * the " Micros " promised us by the editor of the ' Entomologist ' 

 will do much to induce entomologists to take up the study of 

 these interesting and often beautiful insects, and I trust that one 

 result will be a greatly increased knowledge of their parasites. 



Decorus, Hal.* 



Haliday considered this to be the same as his annularis, but 

 Beinhard and Marshall make annularis := emarginatus, Wees. 



All the specimens I have seen agree perfectly with the 

 original description, excepting that I do not find the wings to be 

 pure hj'aline. 



Elisha bred the species from Conchylis diliicidana. Haliday 

 obtained it from oak and larch. In Harwood's collection I have 

 seen three females labelled by him " Fir, Berechurch, 25/6/14." 



Xanthostigmus, Hal.f 



It is fairly easy to recognise this species by its pale stigma, 

 which has a noticeable fuscous border. There is a medial 

 ■depression on the metathorax, and a medial longitudinal channel 

 on the first abdominal segment. In my specimens the terebra 

 is two-thirds the length of the abdomen. Seems to be common 

 •and has been bred maii}^ times. I have obtained it from a larva 

 of Paramesia ferriigana, October 10th, 1914, and from a cocoon 

 found on hawthorn May 16th, 1916. 



Cocoon white and smooth with a satiny gloss. 



PrcEtor, Marsh, t 

 This fine species, which expands as much as 9-10 mm., was 

 •described by Marshall from two males captured by Bignell in 

 ♦South Devon, and one bred by Elisha from Catoptria cemulana; 



* 'Ent. Mag.,' ii, p. 254. 

 t ' Ent. Mag.,' ii, p. 246. 

 I ' Trans. Entom. Soc.,' 1885, p. 197. 



