122 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



same stones, " apparently in a dormant state" (Brit. Ent. 389). 

 In the same locality he observed, in June, " the female descend 

 the sides of rocks to a considerable depth under the surface 

 of the water, remain immersed for ten minutes, and then 

 reappear without any apparent injury ; this singular operation it 

 repeated several times" (Ent. Mag. iii. 412). Francis Walker 

 then (1835) conjectured "Can the object of these subaqueous 

 wanderings be for the purpose of depositing its eggs in the 

 aquatic larva of some neuropterous insect ? " Twenty years 

 later Vincent Kollar, Dr. Kriechbaumer, and Prof. v. Siebold 

 bred this species from the larva- cases of the trichopterous Silo 

 pallipes, Fabr. (Trichostoma picicorne, Pict.), in Bavaria and 

 Bohemia. For interesting notes on its peculiar economy see 

 Verb. z.-b. Gesell. Wien, vii. 189, 190 (1857); Stett. Ent. Zeit. 

 xxii. 59-61 (1861); and Dr. Hagen's note in E. W. I. x. 148. 

 Prof. Westwood exhibited larva-cases of S. pallipes, from 

 Mentone, at the meeting of the Entomological Society of 

 London, October 5th, 1863, from which specimens of this 

 species had been extracted. He says : — " The cases had a 

 long tail or appendange, which looked like a piece of grass 

 or straw attached to the end." It has been suggested that this 

 long foot-stalk, which Siebold so fully describes, is to enable the 

 pupa of the Ichneumon to raise the case to the surface, it 

 wanting the natatory powers of the phryganideous pupa (Ent. 

 Ann., 1862, p. 23). Curtis tells us this species varies much in 

 size, some species being only half as large as others ; hence it is 

 not improbable that the larger parasites of Odontocerum [Molanna) 

 albicorne, Scop., were the same insect. It is beautifully figured 

 in Curtis's plate ; and Westwood gives its profile in outline 

 (Introd. ii. 75, 14). 



No. V.— OPHIONID.E. 



This is an easily-recognised family, containing those Ichneu- 

 mons which have their abdomens compressed and mostly petiolate ; 

 the areolet is small and mostly triangular, or wanting. It contains 

 a numerous and varied collection of species, but the family 

 characters are general^ well marked. 



Gravenhorst (Ichn. Europ., vol. iii. ; 1829) included the 

 genera Campoplex, Paniscus, Anomalon, Ophion, Macrus, Trachy- 



