172 1CHNEUMONLDJE. 



1 15. Itoplectis sikkimensis, Cam. 



Pimpla sikkimensis, Cameron, Zeits. Hym.-Dip. 1908, p. 41 (? ). 



5 . Black, smooth and shining. Head with the palpi strami- 

 neous. Thorax : metanotum to the lateral carinae densely white- 

 pilose and strongly, though not very closely, punctate. Scutellum 

 somewhat sparsely and feebly punctate. Abdomen closely and 

 strongly punctate, more obsoletely towards its apex ; terebra as 

 long as the body, with its valvulae densely clothed with black, sub- 

 elongate pilosity. Legs : anterior pairs pale fulvous, with the 

 coxae and trochanters stramineous ; intermediate tarsi infuscate ; 

 hind legs red, with their coxae flavous above, their tibiae whitish 

 above and, like the whole of their tarsi, black beneath. Wings 

 hyaline, with the stigma and nervures black; tegulae stramineous; 

 areolet broad above, emitting the recurrent nervure nearly at the 

 base of its apical fourth ; the transverse median received shortly 

 behind the transverse basal. 



Length 9 millim. 



SlKKlM (Binyham). 



Cameron says (1. c.) that this female " comes near P. vidua, 

 Cam., which has, inter ?/, the coxae and the base of: the tro- 

 chanters black." 



Genus EPIURUS, Fdrst. 

 Ejriurus, Forster, Verb. pr. Rheinl. 1868, p. 164. 



GENOTYPE, Pimpla Irevicornis, Grav. 



Like the last, this genus is too closely allied to Pimpla (s. #.) 

 to need any detailed description. It will at once be recognised by 

 the distinctly emarginate apex of the clypeus ; the invariably 

 circular metathoracic spiracles ; coarsely and distinctly punctate, 

 and usually nitidulous, abdomen ; elongately pilose terebra, which 

 rarely exceeds the strongly tuberculate abdomen in length ; the 

 obsolete metauotal areae ; black cheeks ; entire front femora of 

 the <$ and the elongate thorax. 



The parasitic larvae are gregarious and spin their dark brown,, 

 papyraceous cocoons upon one another within that of the host, 

 which is usually, though not always, Lepidopterous and often 

 a Bombycicl. One species has been found by Dr. Giraud abundantly 

 in galls upon Triticum repent and is supposed to be beneficial, by 

 preying upon the small Dipteron, which makes the galls ; but he 

 hints that, for at least some part of its existence, the presumably 

 parasitic larva subsists upon the purely vegetable tissues of the 

 gall itself (c,f. Mori., Ichn. Brit, iii, p. 88). Somewhat analogous 

 observations have been made by Cameron in the case of Epiurus 

 ijallicola, Mori., which was found in the galls of the Tenthredinid, 

 Nematus viminalis, Htg., and was observed to increase appreciably 

 in size and bulk for a considerable period after finally consuming the 

 host larva ; presumably this could only be effected by means of the 



