British Braconidm. 11 



VI. FLEXILIVENTRES. 

 Aphidiides. 



Head usually transverse, contracted posteriorly, articu- 

 lated to the lower part of the anterior face of the thorax ; 

 occiput margined, at least in part, (except in the 

 genus Dyscritus), narrow, abruptly truncate ; mandibles 

 bidenticulate, cuneiform, narrow, hardly curved; palpi 

 short, the maxillary not so long as the head, 2-4- 

 jointed; labial palpi 1-3-jointed; clypeus subtriangu- 

 lar. Antennse filiform or submoniliform, 11-25-27- 

 -jointed, shorter than the body in the $ s, longer 

 in the $ s. Prothorax short ; mesothorax gibbous ; 

 furrows of the mesonotum generally effaced, but distinct 

 in Praon and some species of Ajohidius ; metathorax short, 

 sloping from its base, usually areolated. First discoidal 

 areolet of the fore wings contiguous to the parastigma; 

 the rest of the neuration is either tolerably complete, 

 with 3 cubital areolets {Ephcdrus, Toxares), or incomplete 

 (Praon, ApJiidius, Monoctonus, DyscHtus), having but 2 

 cubital areolets, often only 1, and sometimes none ; in 

 these latter cases the radial and cubital nervures are ab- 

 ruptly effaced before running half their course, and the 

 exterior third of the wing is deprived of nervures : inter- 

 cubital nervures effaced ; 1st cubital areolet confounded 

 with the 1st discoidal (in Praon the separation exists 

 imperfectly) ; anal nervure interstitial (except in Byscri- 

 tus), but feebly expressed or obsolete ; the inferior wings 

 have only two longitudinal nervures, indicating a costal 

 areolet which is open at the extremity; the $ of one 

 species of Aphidius is entirely apterous, the corresponding 

 ^ is unknown. Legs of ordinary form. Abdomen sub- 

 petiolate or subsessile, longer than the head and thorax, 

 exhibiting 7 segments above, and 6 beneath ; the 3 first 

 segments are loosely articulated, so that the abdomen 

 curves easily forwards under the thorax, an attitude 

 necessary for oviposition, originally belonging to the 

 larva when curled up within the globular body of an 

 Aphis, and which the perfect insect shews a tendency to 

 assume occasionally throughout life ; 2nd suture replaced 

 by an extensible membrane ; hypopygium slightly pro- 

 jecting beyond the apical dorsal segment of the ? , form- 



