HO ICHNECMONID.E. 



described varieties iu place of species. Brulle, he contends, had 

 (Hist. Nat. Ins. Hym. iv, p. 94) in 1846 reversed Pimpla pedatoi 



is distinctly transverse. Thereupon Vollenhoven gives the de- 

 scription of an insect under the former name, which agrees very 

 well with those we now know as Xanthopimpla lepclia and X. reyina, 

 but he unfortunately omits to mention the terebral length. 



Dr. K. Krieger does not pretend, in his very excellent account 

 of the present genus (Ber. Nat. (res. Leipzig, 1899, p. 101), to 

 determine the species of Fabricius, but describes a , agreeing 

 with Brulle's description in every way, excepting its coloration. 

 That it cannot, however, he referred to P. punctator is shown by 

 its possession of but four abdominal spots on either side, and I 

 am quite satisfied that it is synonymous with P. punctata, F., 

 since the alternate segments are alone maculate, the areola is 

 transverse and basally much constricted, the second segment 

 centrally smooth and nitidulous, the third coarsely and diffusely 

 punctate, and the terebra is deflexed and as long as the hind 

 tibia? with their tarsi, excepting the claws (cf. also Smith, Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. li. 1857, p. 119). 



Without an examination of the type specimens, which I have 

 been enabled to effect only in the case of the Bariksian Cabinet, 

 it is, I fear, useless to retain these ancient and insufficiently 

 defined names. 



If these insects be not killed with cyanide of potassium their 

 coloration is often a good guide to specific distinction ; but I have 

 rarely been enabled to rely upon this feature to any extent, owing 

 to the large percentage of ancient, and more usually discoloured 

 specimens, which have been the best at my disposal. 



Xanthopimpla is known to prey upon Xoctuid and Pyralid 

 moths in India ; it has also been recorded from species of Papilio 

 and Cricula, and Mr. llowland Turner tells me that it is parasitic 

 upon the grand and exclusively Oriental Ornithoptera, Boisd., which 

 genus, however, does not occur in Madagascar, whence Xantho- 

 pimpla was first mentioned by Saussure. Vollenhoven tells us it 

 is probably destructive to several species of Lepidoptera, adding 

 that Dr. Piepers bred a <J of his X. punctator from the pupa of 

 Papilio pammoii, L., in Celebes. Mr. E. C. Cotes is also said to 

 have bred specimens from larva? of the Bombycid moth, Cricula 

 trifen'strata, in Hazenburgh (Mauch. Mem. 1891, p. 5), where 

 Pimpla zebra, Yoll., is stated to have been likewise raised from 

 the same species. Mr. E. P. Stebbing tells us (Journ. Bombay 

 Nat. Hist. Soc. xvi, p. 684) that Pimpla punctator is parasitic upon 

 various species of defoliating SATURNIID., but I do not know 

 to which of the modern species to assign his observations, which 

 are somewhat general in character, since he also remarks that 

 various species of Glypta, Pimpla, &c., are beneficial in reducing 

 'tho numbers of Ifyblera puere, the common teak defoliator. 



