252 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Macrocentrus, Curt. 



Palpi elongate ; antennas at least 45-jointed. 

 Labial palpi with third joint not reflexed, 

 body black ..... 1. marginator, Nees. 



Labial palpi with third joint reflexed ; 



body not entirely black. 

 Second discoidal cell nearly one-third 



shorter than the first ... 2. thoracicus, Nees. 

 Second discoidal cell hardly shorter than 

 the first .... . . 3. abdominalis, Fab. 



Palpi short ; antennas at most 37-jointed 

 Second abscissa of radial nervure as long 

 as the first transverse cubital . 4. infirmus, Nees. 



(7) 8. Second abscissa of radial much shorter 



than the first transverse cubital . 5. collaris, Spin. 



M. marginator. — A very abundant species in all marshy 

 spots in May, August, and September, on the flowers of Angelica 

 sylvestris and Lysimachia vulgaris. I have found it at Herrings- 

 well Fen, Barton Mills, Barnby Broad, Claydon, Brandon, 

 Tuddenham Fen, Monks Soham, Ipswich, Finborough Park, 

 Henstead, and Benacre, in Suffolk, often by general sweeping 

 and sometimes after dark ; as well as at Metton and Ringstead, 

 in Norfolk ; and possess it from Tostock (Tuck) ; Isle of Arran 

 (Waterston) ; bred at Lincoln (Musham) ; Abinger Hammer, 

 Surrey (Butler) ; Felden, in Herts (Piffard) ; Whitby (Beau- 

 mont) ; Richmond Park (Bedwell) ; Guestling, in Sussex, in 

 1877 and 1888 (Bloomfield) ; Possil Marsh, Scotland, in 1899 

 (Dalglish) ; Point of Aire, in 1904 (Tomlin) ; Greenings, in 

 Surrey (Wilson Saunders). Mr. Whittle bred it in a breeding- 

 cage containing pupae of Sesia cynipiformis, at Southend, May 

 21st, 1900; Mr. Thornhill from Sesia? sp. at Boxwortb, Cam- 

 bridgeshire, June 21st, 1902 ; Col. Partridge from S. culiciformis, 

 at Blackheath, May 23rd, 1899 ; Mr. Mason from S. asiliformis, 

 at Caister, Lincolnshire, July 10th, 1905 ; and Mr. Charbonnier 

 from S. tipidiformis, at Bristol, in May. Two males and a 

 female emerged early in the morning of May 13th, 1901, from 

 pupae of S. culiciformis, from near Balmoral, Aberdeenshire ; 

 a male and female paired about 7.30 a.m.; when I received them 

 from Mr. James Duncan on the 17th the males were both dead, 

 but the female alive. In 1907 it has been common in August and 

 September, on flowers of Heracleum and Angelica, at Monks 

 Soham, Depden, and Southwold, in Suffolk. 



M. thoracicus. — Not very common ; I have only once beaten 

 the male from birch-bushes in Assington Thicks, Suffolk, July 

 23rd, 1902. Elliott has taken it at Ilkley in Yorkshire ; Capron 

 at Shere, in Surrey ; Piffard at Felden. in Herts; W. Saunders at 

 Greenings, near East Grinstead ; and Platten at light, in Ipswich, 

 September 30th, 1899. Porritt bred a female from an unknown 



