British Braconidx. 71 



clined to consider this as an immature variety of A. rosm 

 but that individuals of this last have assumed their char- 

 acteristic tints before they are disclosed from the puparium." 



Aphidius rap^, Curtis. 



A. {Trionyx) rapx, Curt., Farm. Ins., 73 ; cf. Mcintosh, 

 Book of the Garden, ii, 194, fig. ; Marsh., lib. cit., 

 p. 615, ? . 



Sex not stated, but the figure represents a $ . Head and thorax 

 black, shining, abdomen piCeous, with pale sutures ; 1st segment 

 yellowish. Oral parts yellow. Antennae shorter than the body, 14- 

 jointed, the 1st joint yellow beneath ; according to Buckton they 

 are 16-jointed, and I counted the same number in the specimen 

 sent to me, which was a $ . Wings hyaline ; stigma narrow, 

 brown ; costal areolet complete ; cubital nervure extending to the 

 end of the 1st cubital areolet ; radial nervure inchoate ; the rest of 

 the neuration effaced. Legs yellow, diversified with fuscous. 

 Abdomen lanceolate. $ Unknown. Length, Ij ; exp. 2^ lines. 



Curtis himself, as stated in the Book of the Garden, per- 

 ceived that his insect did not belong to the genus Trionyx 

 (i.e. Toxares), and the figure there given clearly represents 

 an Aphidius. The same is true of the coloured figure 

 in Buckton's Monograph of the Aphidse. Mr. Buckton 

 obligingly sent me a specimen of the insect to serve as a 

 type ; but this was a microscopic preparation, colourless, 

 and flattened between two pieces of glass ; it was there- 

 fore only serviceable in showing the genus. According 

 to Curtis this parasite destroys the pucerons of Brassica 

 rapa, the turnip ; and we are informed, in Buckton's 

 work, that the latter belong to the species Aphis brassicm, 

 L. The same aphis attacks several kinds of cruciferous 

 plants, especially Brassica oleracea, the cabbage ; the 

 vermin which swarm upon the leaves of this plant are 

 often considerably thinned, even to the extent of nine 

 tenths, by parasites. It will be noticed that there are 

 indications of a mixture of two species, with similar 

 habits, in the published accounts of A. rapse. The indi- 

 viduals with 14-jointed antennae may possibly belong to 

 A. Irassicx (sp, 35) ; as to the others, with 16-jointed 

 -antennae, I can offer no opinion. 



