154 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Wings hyaline ; stigma fuscous witli the inner angle pale ; nervures 

 fuscous ; I'adius after the first abscissa and central abscissa of cubitus 

 decolorous ; second cubital areolet somewhat narrowed externally, 

 not longer than second discoidal ; second abscissa of radius one-third 

 or one-fourth longer than first transverse cubital nervure. Eadius 

 of hind wing obsolete. Hind calcaria feeble, less than one-third as 

 long as the metatarsus. 



Length, 4^-5 mm. ; expands 8^-9 mm. 



Described from three males and four females. It will be 

 noticed that this description is very similar to that of modestns, 

 Eein. — indeed for some time I considered my specimens should 

 be referred to that species, but after breeding a considerable 

 number I am convinced they are distinct : Modestns has the pale 

 portions of the body rufotestaceous, not flavotestaceous, the stigma 

 testaceous, not fuscous, the mesopleurse smooth and shining and 

 the antennae longer ; it is also of larger size. All the females I 

 have seen have the chevrons on the first abdominal segment very 

 well marked and most noticeable, though in a genus where the 

 extent of the pale marking on the abdomen varies so much, it is 

 more than likely that examples will be found in which this 

 prominent distinguishing mark is almost, if not quite, absent. 



In the New Forest this is a fairly abundant parasite of 

 Semiothisa liturat/t and I have bred it at various dates between 

 March 18th and May 11th, all the insects having passed a winter 

 within the hardened skins of their hosts, which are firmly attached 

 to a pine needle. All the host larvfe were beaten from Douglas 

 fir simultaneously with numbers of the larvfe of Thera variata 

 {ohliscata), but from none of the latter have I ever obtained the 

 lUiogas. It is diftieult to find a reason for this, the larvae of the 

 two moths being so similar in size, habits and appearance. 



Harvvood obtained a female by beating firs at Beirchurch 

 Park, Essex, June 25th, 1914. 



Circumscriytm, Nees.* 



Undoubtedly our commonest species : a frequent parasite of 

 young larva3 of Nocttue. Distinguished by the number of joints 

 of the antennae being less than in any other British species, 

 excepting testaceiis ,- in my many typical specimens they number 

 from 37-41. Eeinhard describes seven colour varieties, of which 

 the first (body and legs testaceous excepting the metathorax and 

 first abdominal segment, Aleoides nifiricepa, Wesm.t) appears to 

 be the most plentiful. Very considerable variation is also 

 noticeable in size, the usual length being 41-5 mm. and expanse 

 8-9 mm., though I have a fine female measuring 6 mm. in length 

 and expanding fully 11 mm. 



In the New Forest I have reared the species from larvae of 



* 'Mon. At!'.,' i, p. 216. 



t ' Nouv. Mem. Ac. Brux.,' 1838, p. 109. 



