259 



Art. XXVIII. An Ess at/ on the Classification of the Para- 

 sitic Hymenoptera of Britain, which correspond with the 

 Ichneumones minuti of Linnceus. By A. H. Ha lid ay, 

 Esq., M.A. 



[to the editor of the entomological magazine.] 



Sir, — Among our indigenous insects, few seem to have 

 obtained so little attention from the systematic writers of 

 Britain as the tribes of Hijmenoptera, corresponding (with 

 a slight modification) to the Ichneumones minuti of Lin- 

 naeus. This branch has not been equally disregarded by 

 the continental authors; but of their methods little more 

 than partial indications have been made accessible to the gene- 

 rality of British collectors. In attempting here to give an 

 outline from those sources, and embodying the results of some 

 of my own investigations, I must hope for the indulgence 

 which the total want of any library of reference will suggest 

 in my favour. During a short stay in London, some years 

 since, the ever-ready liberality of my friend, Mr. Curtis, opened 

 to me the stores of his rich cabinet, as well as various sources 

 of information not otherwise accessible. Some leisure hours 

 have since been passed, not unpleasantly, in recalling and 

 applying the information thus afforded, and from those recol- 

 lections, and from the materials afforded by my own small 

 collection, I am induced to attempt the sketch of which these 

 sheets form the introductory, and not the least laboured part. 

 The plan I have proposed to myself excludes much j^retension 

 to originality. I have, however, in many cases remodelled and 

 amplified the characters of established genera, in accordance 

 with my own observations, and have added some subdivisions 

 that seemed to be pointed out by nature. In addition to the 

 genera previously determined, a few groups have been indicated 

 by Mr. Stephens, in his "Systematic Catalogue," and the 

 great mass subsequently by Mr. Curtis, in his " Guide to an 

 Arrangement of British Insects." As the groups proposed by 

 Mr. Stephens were in general unnamed, I had followed the 

 nomenclature of the latter catalogue. A notice in the pages of the 

 "Entomological Magazine" brought to my knowledge an Essay, 

 by Mr. Westwood, on the Parasitic Hymenoptera, inserted 

 in the " Philosophical Magazine" (Third Series, No. III.) for 



