British Braconidce. 127 



petiole and medial tubercles ; usually rimulose except at the base, 

 but often Lsevigated in different degrees, especially on the condylns ; 

 I have specimens in which this segment is almost smooth ; they 

 differ in no other respect from the rest, some are intermediate, and 

 it appears to me that leviventris, Wesm., and medianus, Ruthe, 

 are the same species. Ruthe remarks that the examination of a 

 long series of specimens would very likely show that the next 

 species, M. rubens, should also be united with these two. Another 

 allied species is M. obsoletus, Wesm. (lib. cit., p. 4'.)), having a 

 longer terebra ; but its identity with the present is more doubtful. 



Described from four females, one male. Common ; 

 taken by me in Kent, Yorkshire, and Leicestershire ; by 

 Bignell also in Devonshire. 



30. Meteorus rubens, Nees. 



Bracon rubens, Nees, Mag. Ges. Berl., 1811, p. 22; 



Perilitus rubens, Nees, Mon., i., 36, $ ? . 

 Meteorus rubens, Hal., Ent. Mag., iii., 30; Ruthe, 



Berl. ent. Zeits., 1862, p. 51, $ ? . 



Rufo-testaceous ; antennae towards the apex fuscous ; legs testa- 

 ceous ; metathorax and 1st abdominal segment more or less 

 blackish. Wings as in sp. 29 ; recurrent nervure interstitial. First 

 abdominal segment rimulose, often more or less laevigated. Tracheal 

 grooves obsolete. Terebra \ as long as the abdomen. Length, 

 \\ — 2] ; wings, o\ — 4| lin. 



Var. $ . Third and following abdominal segments black, or 

 with a blackish spot upon the disk. 



Head as in the preceding species ; antennae rather shorter and 

 stouter, those of the $ '20- (seldom 25- or 27-) jointed, as long as 

 the head, thorax, and 1st abdominal segment; those of the $ 28- 

 jointed, longer than the body. The average size is somewhat less 

 than that of leviventris, but besides the colour no further means of 

 distinction appear. Head usually rufo-testaceous, unicolorous, or 

 the occiput and stemmaticum fuscous. Thorax rufo-testaceous ; 

 metathorax more or less blackened above, or black with a rufous 

 patch on each side. First abdominal segment usually infuscated 

 or black, seldom rufo-testaceous. The males bred by Bignell have 

 the posterior segments more or less black, and the same character 

 appears in the smaller females. 



Nees v. Esenbeck and Haliday seem to have regarded 

 this and No. 29 as varieties of the same species ; 



