British Braconidce. 269 



3. Earinus nitidulus, Nees. 



Microdus nitididus, Nees, Mon., i., 144 ; M. (Edtinm) 

 )iitidiihts, Wesm., Nouv. Mem. Ac. Brux., 1837, 

 p. 8, pi. (wing), 3" 2 • 

 Var. M. thomcicm, Nees, Mon., i., 143, ? ; M. {Earinus) 

 thoracicus, Wesm., lib. cit., p. 9, ? (mesotliorax 

 rufous) ; S. v. Voll., Pinac, pi. 29, f. 6, ? . 

 Black ; palpi testaceous ; legs rufous, liiud tibitB broadly whitish 

 at the base, tarsi black. Wiugs hyaline, squaraulae testaceous, 

 stigma blackish ; 3d abscissa of the radius sinuated. Auteunae 

 $ ? 36 — 37-jointed. Head and thorax beset with whitish pube- 

 scence ; mesotliorax finely puuctulate, the sutures faintly traced ; 

 metathorax with 2 cariuiu, which diverge near the base and thence 

 run parallel to each other to the apex ; between thein sometimes is 

 a third imperfect carina. Abdomen smooth, shining ; segment 1 

 tricarmated, the middle carina not touching the base. Terebra as 

 long as the abdomen. 3" 2 • Length, 3 lin. 



Unknown to me ; the only authority for its occurrence 

 in England is Cur., Guide, 2d ed., column 116. Brischke 

 describes the cocoon as " 6 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, 

 almost cylindrical, moderately hard, white, somewhat 

 rough " ; there is such a specimen in the Kuthian 

 collection. 



iii. Microdus, Nees. 

 Nees, Act. Ac. L. C, 1818, p. 304 ; Reinh., Berl. ent. 

 Zeit., 1867, p. 351. 



Maxillary palpi 5-, labial 4- or 3-jointed. Face not produced or 

 rostriform. Mesothorax more distinctly trilobate. Mesopleurae 

 with a rugulose fm-row. Three cubital areolets, the 1st confused 

 with the prsediscoidal. 



The only available character for distinguishing this 

 genus from the preceding is the absence, or rather the 

 incompleteness, of the nervure which divides the 1st 

 cubital areolet from the prsediscoidal. As all writers 

 since Wesmael are agreed to sanction this principle, it is 

 here admitted. Nevertheless the character is of no 

 more than sectional or specific value, and begins already 

 to lead to inconvenient results. I am acquainted with 

 one species which is technically excluded from Earinus 

 by its distinct mesothoracic sutures, and equally from 

 Microdus because it exhibits the dividing nervure. 



