KNOWLEDGE OF THE BRITISH BRACONIDE. 121 
smoky, especially in the female, with a light mark under the 
stigma, the antenne are 29- to 31-jointed in both sexes, and the 
recurrent nervure is interstitial in the female as well as in the 
male. In spite of these discrepancies, I believe I am right in 
referring my insect to this species. Three of Marshall’s types 
are now in the National Collection, and I much regret that I am 
unable at the present to visit the museum and inspect them; 
Morley, however, has very kindly supplied me with their 
particulars. 
A solitary parasite of the larve of Lepidoptera; fairly com- 
mon in April and May, and again in the autumn in the neighbour- 
hood of fir-trees. I have beaten it from Douglas fir as late in 
the year as December 17th, so that possibly it may sometimes 
pass the winter as an imago. That this is not always so I have 
proved by “‘ forcing ’’ larve of the host, which, taken in Novem- 
ber when quite small, produced the parasite in the following 
January. 
Morley was the first to record a host for the species, for in 
his notes* he mentions that a correspondent sent him a cocoon, 
the maker of which had emerged from a pupa of Thera variata. 
In this I think Mr. Morley’s correspondent must be in error, for, 
as regards the very considerable number of specimens bred by 
me, in every case the parasite has emerged from the larva of its 
host and spun the usual pendulous cocoon, which seems to be 
almost identical with that of M. scutellator, though perhaps 
rather lighter in colour (fig. 5). 
I have obtained this species many times between April 4th 
and May 30th, from larve of the first brood of Thera variata, and 
from September 2nd to 29th from larve of the second brood of 
the same insect. Most of my specimens have, I believe, been 
bred from larve of the true 7. variata (Schiff.), though I am 
certain that some are from 1’. obeliscata (Htb.).+ One cocoon 
of this species produced the hyperparasite Mesochorus crassi- 
manus, September 18th, 1913. 
M. scutellator (Nees).—A well-marked species, though variable 
in colour, &c. The scutellum would seem to be always rufo- 
testaceous, and the metathorax carinated. All my specimens 
have the hind tibiw ringed with fuscous near the base. Marshall 
mentions that the second cubital cell is scarcely narrowed 
towards the radius; although this is usually so, I possess speci- 
mens in which it is distinctly narrowed, and others in which it 
is actually wider at the radius. 
Fairly common ; a solitary parasite of the larve of Lepido- 
ptera. The cocoon is similar to that of M. pulchricornis, but 
larger. From twenty-four to twenty-seven days elapse between 
* Entomologist,’ vol. xli. p. 149. 
+ See Prout in ‘ Entomologist,’ vol. xlv. p. 241. 
