British BraconidcB. Ill 



5. Blacus humilis, Nees. 



Blacus humilis, Nees, Mon., i., 191 ; Hal., Ent. Mag., 

 iii., 121, <? ? ; Wesm., Nouv. Mem. Ac. Brux., 

 1835, p. 95, partly ; Eutbe, Berl. ent. Zeit., 1861, 

 p. 148, ? . 



B. exilis, Nees, I. c. 



Dacnusa cerealis, Curt., Farm. Ins., 294. 



5 . Black or piceous : mouth paler, mandibles ferruginous ; 

 palpi fuscescent. Antennae 17-jointed, ^ shorter than the body, 

 incrassated towards the tips, blackish, paler at the base. Meso- 

 pleursB almost smooth, with a punctate longitudinal furrow ; meta- 

 thorax subtruncate behind, obtusely prominent, very finely rugu- 

 lose, almost smooth in the middle ; posterior angles minutely 

 dentiform. Wings narrow, subhyaline, stigma and nervures pale 

 piceous, costa and squamulae darker; anterior angle of the prse- 

 discoidal areolet complete in both sexes. Legs slender, piceous- 

 brown or ochraceous ; tibiae and tarsi paler, except at the tips ; 4 

 posterior coxte infuscated. Abdomen compressed, hardly longer 

 than the thorax ; 1st segment hnear, oblong, convex, rugulosely 

 punctate, finely margined ; the other segments smooth. Terebra 

 as long as J- or J of the abdomen, somewhat decurved. (J similar; 

 antennte 19 — '20-jointed, filiform, longer than the body ; abdomen 

 narrower, linear ; legs more slender, but hardly longer. Length, 

 1 ; wings, 2 lin. 



The smallest species, much resembling trivialis, Hal., 

 but, besides tbe inferior size, it differs in the antennae of 

 the ? , which are longer, and incrassated towards the 

 apex ; the medial joints of the llagellum are also more 

 elongate ; the subapical joints ovate, decreasing gradually 

 in length. The dentiform processes of the metathorax 

 are very small, and only 2 in number, instead of 4, as 

 in jKiganus, Hal. 



Var. 1. Only f of a line long; wings narrower; legs more 

 slender ; metathorax hardly bidenticulate. The antennae of the 

 specimen here referred to were not a pair, the joints of either side 

 differing in length and form. Ruthe. 



Var. 2. Length, 1;^ ; wings, 2i lines. ? . Abdomen hardly 

 compressed, subclavate ; nervures of the wings stouter. Haliday. 



Var. 3. Antennae not longer than the head and thorax, incras- 

 sated at the apex. Haliday. 



This species is evidently a parasite of some insect 

 feeding upon ears of corn : it may be obtained by 

 sweeping in wheat-fields. 



