EXETASTES. 243 



Genus EXETASTES, Grav. 

 Exctastes, Gravenhorst, Ichn. Eur. iii, 1829, p. 395. 



GEXOTYPE, Ichneumon cinctipes, Retz. 



Head short and transverse, somewhat produced in front, not 

 buccate posteriorly and often white-marked ; clypeus subdiscrete 

 and a little broader than long, more or less impressed, basally 

 elevated and apically rounded but not excised ; mandibles broad,. 

 curved, subconstricted apically, with the teeth of nearly equal 

 length ; maxillary palpi simple ; eyes entire and not emarginate. 

 Antennae slender, filiform or subsetaceous, with the scape ovate 

 and apically hardly excised. Thorax somewhat narrow ; epi- 

 cnemia distinct ; metathorax stout, usually parallel-sided and. 

 dorsally scabriculous ; are obsolete or wanting ; spiracles oval' 

 and not large. Scutellum simple, convex or gibbous, especially 

 when not pale. Abdomen narrow, subsessile and compressed at 

 the apex, smooth and nitidulous ; petiolar spiracles a little before 

 the centre ; second and third segments margined ; terebra dis- 

 tinctly exserted. Legs slender, with hind pair elongate ; posterior 

 tibia? bicalcarate, with the tarsal claws simple. Wings normal, 

 often a little clouded ; areolet irregularly rhomboidal ; radius 

 emitted slightly before the centre of the stigma, nervelet usually 

 distinct ; hind wings with the nervellus intercepted above the 

 centre and the first radial abscissa only half the length of the 

 second. 



liange. Europe, Madeira, Teneriffe, Himalayas, Malay Archi- 

 pelago, North America, Brazil. 



Thomson points out (Op. Ent. xxii, p. 2414) that this genus is 

 separable from Banchus by its entire eyes, which, though not 

 uniform in shape, are never emargiuate, the subentire scape and 

 simple scutellurn ; the external orbits are not flavidous, the 

 mandibles have the upper tooth obliquely truncate and somewhat 

 longer than the lower, and the areolet, though large and rhom- 

 boidal, is yet smaller and seldom sessile ; the recurrent nervure 

 of the hind wings intercepts the radius in its first third and [is- 

 shorter and slightly oblique. 



Talk of Species. 



1 (4) Hind metatarsus clear red. 



2 (3) Mesonotum finely and obsoletely punc- 



tate ; length 8-12 millim ......... cinctipes, Retz., p. 244- 



3 (2) Mesonotum closely and coriaceously 



punctate ; length 14 millim ....... tisiphone, sp. n., p. 246. 



4 (1) Hind metatarsus infuscate or black. 



5 (6) Mesonotum glabrous and less convex . nigripes, Grav., p. 247. 



6 (5) Mesonotum punctate and more convex. 



7 (8) Fron.s closely punctate and dull ; areo- 



let subsessile .................... lucifer, sp. n., p. 248. 



E2 



