Briiiiih Bmconidce. 169 



7. Apanteles congestus, Nees. 



Microgaster congestus, Nees, Mon., ii., 405. 



Apanteles congestus, Eeiuh., Berl. ent. Zeit., 1880, 

 p. 369, (? ? . 



Microgaster glohatus, Bouche, Naturg. (1834), 155. 



M. intricatus, Hal., Ent. Mag., ii., 252, ? ; cf. 468, note. 



M-im-spicuns, Wesm., Nouv. Mem. Ac. Brux., 1837, 

 p. 45, 3 ? ; Ptatz., Iclm. d. Forst., iii., 55 (not of 

 Nees). 



Black; auteuus <? often beneath and at the tips, with the palpi, 

 testaceous; fore legs rnfo-testaceous, their femora black at the 

 base; middle and hind legs black, 2d joint of the trochanters and 

 base of the tibiae, rufo-testaceous ; or femora and tibiae rufo- 

 testaceous ; hind femora at the apex and on the upper edge, black 

 or fuscous. Wings fusco-hyaline, stigma fuscous. Mesothorax 

 thickly punctulate, dull ; scutellum shining, punctulate ; meta- 

 thorax and segments 1 — 2 coarsely rugose ; segment 1 longer than 

 broad, narrowed at the base, truncate ; 2 as long as 3. Terebra 

 very short. Hind coxae rugulose above. Spurs of the hind tibise 

 slender, shorter than \ the metatarsus. 3 ? . Length 1 — 1^ ; 

 wings 2 — 'Ih lin. 



The hind coxae above are distinctly rugulose, almost 

 as rough as the base of the abdomen, by which character 

 the species may be separated from spurius, difficilis, 

 gracilis, and others, which it closely resembles. Haliday 

 does not mention the hind coxae, but his description of 

 the nest of intricatus shows that he had this insect in 

 view. The same remark applies to Bouche's glohatus. 

 Wesmael's description is abundantly conclusive. Haliday 

 (MS. in Brit. Mus.) makes scriceus, Nees, a synonym of 

 this species ; but it agrees much better with the solitary 

 parasite to which we have united it. 



Very common. The gregarious larvae form white 

 cocoons, irregularly piled together, and enveloped in a 

 woolly ball of oval shape and dull yellow colour, as large 

 as a hazel- or even walnut. These balls are usually 

 attached to blades of grass, and resemble the nests of 

 certain spiders, for which they have often been taken, 

 e. g., by Eatzeburg, Ichn. d. Forst., iii., 55, and this is the 

 species referred to by Cameron, E. M. M., x., 211. It has 

 been asserted that the victim-larva before its death spins 

 this covering for the protection of the undeserving brood 

 of parasites. See, however, Reaumur, i., pt. ii., p. 222 ; 

 and Haliday (Ent. Mag., ii., 235) remarks that it would 



