British Braconidce. 67 



Teignton. Bignell has captured four specimens near 

 Plj'mouth, one of which is the dark varietj'. The species 

 was founded on a single example taken by Walker in 

 England ; Wesmael possessed three males and eight 

 females from the envii-ons of Brussels. 



3. Colastes hraconius, Hal. 

 Colastes hraconius, Hal., Ent. Mag., iv., 57, <? ? . 

 Exothecus debilis, Wesm., Nouv. Mem. Ac. Brux., 

 1838, p. 75, ^ 2 , pi., fig. 8 (wing <? ? ) ; Eatz., 

 Ichn. d. Forst., ii., 45, pi. ii., fig. 12 (wing ? ) ; 

 iii., 42, 3 ? . 



Black ; antennae at the base, palpi, and legs, pale ; abdomen in 

 the middle indeterminately testaceous ; stigma elongate, lanceolate, 

 yellow, emitting the radius much before the middle ; lower side of 

 the 2d cubital areolet incrassated in the ^; recmrrent nervure 

 almost interstitial ; terebra I — \ the length of the abdomen. 

 Length, | — 2 ; wings, 1 — 4i hn. 



Variable in size and colour. Head subglobose, narrower than 

 the thorax; antennae slender, 27 — 31-jointed. Mesothoracic 

 sutures converging into a wide rugulose depression ; metathoras 

 punctulate, pubescent, not areated, often with a smooth space in 

 the middle and a faint longitudinal carina. Abdomen of the g 

 hnear ; of the J elongate-ovate, segment 1 obconic, longer than its 

 apical breadth, striolated, sometimes with a medial cai-ina, and two 

 contiguous foveas placed transversely behind the middle ; the rest 

 of the abdomen smooth and shining. Legs slender. Winfrs 

 hyahne ; radius origmating from the yellowish stigma before ^ of 

 its length; prae- and pobrachialnervm-es approximated ; pobrachial 

 areolet of the hind wing rather less than | the pra^brachial. 



Var. a. SmaU. (Length, f—1; wings, lj—2i Hn.). Antenna 

 22 — 24-jointed. Piceous, the middle of the abdomen paler, legs 

 almost whitish ; sculpture of the metathorax and 1st segment very 

 minute. 



Var. /3. Larger. (Length, If; wings, Sf lin.). Antenna 30- 

 joiuted. Head, thorax, and 1st segment black, 2 — 4 testaceous, 

 the rest fuscous. 



Var. y. Largest. (Length, 2 ; wings, 4^ lin.). Abdomen, after 

 the 2d segment, fulvescent. Taken by Bignell and myself. 



A common solitary parasite of leaf-mining Lepidoj^tera 

 and Diptera. Its fragile form, long, folded wings, pale 

 legs, and slow movements, give it a very gnat-hke 

 appearance. Bred by Reissig in April, and by Ratze- 

 burg in July, from beech-leaves (Bucheulaube), mined by 



