KNOWLEDGE OF THE BRITISH BRACONID^E. 121 



smoky, especially in the female, with a light mark under the 

 stigma, the antennae are 29- to 31 -jointed in both sexes, and the 

 recurrent nervure is interstitial in the female as well as in the 

 male. In spite of these discrepancies, I believe I am right in 

 referring my insect to this species. Three of Marshall's types 

 are now in the National Collection, and I much regret that I am 

 unable at the present to visit the museum and inspect them ; 

 Morley, however, has very kindly supplied me with their 

 particulars. 



A solitary parasite of the larvae of Lepidoptera ; fairly com- 

 mon in April and May, and again in the autumn in the neighbour- 

 hood of fir-trees. I have beaten it from Douglas fir as late in 

 the year as December 17th, so that possibly it may sometimes 

 pass the winter as an imago. That this is not always so I have 

 proved by " forcing " larvse of the host, which, taken in Novem- 

 ber when quite small, produced the parasite in the following 

 January. 



Morley was the first to record a host for the species, for in 

 his notes* he mentions that a correspondent sent him a cocoon, 

 the maker of which had emerged from a pupa of Thera variata. 

 In this I think Mr. Morley's correspondent must be in error, for, 

 as regards the very considerable number of specimens bred by 

 me, in every case the parasite has emerged from the larva of its 

 host and spun the usual pendulous cocoon, which seems to be 

 almost identical with that of M. scutellator, though perhaps 

 rather lighter in colour (fig. 5). 



I have obtained this species many times between April 4th 

 and May 30th, from larvse of the first brood of Tkera variata, and 

 from September 2nd to 29th from larvae of the second brood of 

 the same insect. Most of my specimens have, I believe, been 

 bred from larvae of the true T. variata (Schiff.), though I am 

 certain that some are from T. obeliscata (Hub.).f One cocoon 

 of this species produced the hyperparasite Mesochorus crassi- 

 manus, September 13th, 1913. 



M. scutellator O^ees). — A well-marked species, though variable 

 in colour, &c. The scutellum would seem to be always rufo- 

 testaceous, and the metathorax carinated. All my specimens 

 have the hind tibiae ringed with fuscous near the base. Marshall 

 mentions that the second cubital cell is scarcely narrowed 

 towards the radius ; although this is usually so, I possess speci- 

 mens in which it is distinctly narrowed, and others in which it 

 is actually wider at the radius. 



Fairly common ; a solitary parasite of the larvae of Lepido- 

 ptera. The cocoon is similar to that of M. pulchricoryiis, but 

 larger. From twenty-four to twenty-seven days elapse between 



- ' Entomologist,' vol. xli. p. 149. 



f See Prout in ' Entomologist,' vol. xlv. p. 241. 



