82 



following post brought me three grand specimens, females, of one 

 of our handsomest species of Ichneumonidae, namely, Ichneumon 

 ociogutiatus, Gr. ; but Mr. Adkin was not content with Ichneu- 

 monidae, for the following morning he sent me on from the same 

 host a pair of dipterous which proved to be the rare Exorisia 

 g/iava, Mgn, For this pair of flies I am extremely thankful, as we 

 have only two previous records of it : some years since Mr. Bignell 

 bred a pair from the larvae of Orgyia pudibunda, L. ; Mr. Dale also 

 possessing a single specimen bred from the same host. The 

 next to produce a Pimplid were the larvae of Tortrix palleana, 

 Hb., from which two males and one female of Glypta bicornis, 

 Desv., were bred. Agrotis ashworthii, Dbl., produced four distinct 

 kinds of parasites, firstly three females of the very rare Plixogenes 

 i/nbellis, Gr., and two males and one female of the very handsome 

 Bassus pectoratorhis^ Gr., followed by two species of Diptera. 

 Here again Mr. Adkin has been fortunate, for of the first species, 

 Exorista affinis, Fin., of which there were two females, we have no 

 previous record of it having been bred in the British Isles, and the 

 fly itself has only been known to us by typical specimens from the 

 Continent. The second species, represented by an example of 

 each sex, was Exorista iota, Mgn. This species is again extremely 

 uncommon, and was hitherto only known from one bred by 

 Mr. Bignell and one by Mr. Fitch ; the former from Acronycta pst, 

 L., and the latter from Acronycta tridens, Schiff. 



From the larvae of Sesia scoliiformis, Bork., only two species of 

 parasites were bred, Rhogas reticulator, Nees, several specimens of 

 both sexes, and a single male and two females of a very fine 

 Pimplid, Lissonota sulphurifera, Gr. The larvae of Odonestis 

 potatoria, L., produced no less than five distinct species, namely, 

 two of Ichneumonidae and three of Diptera ; the first to arrive 

 being a very fine female of Amblyteles occisorius, Fab. ; this being 

 quickly followed by two males of Glypta fiavolineata, Gr. The 

 three species of Diptera were Sarcophaga agricola, Meig,, Sar- 

 cophaga melauura, Meig., and Tachina larvariun^ D., both sexes 

 of each species. The next I received were two females and one 

 male, of certainly the most beautiful of the Pimplidee, Schizophyga 

 tricingulata, Gr., reared from larv^ oi Heliothis dipsacea, L., received 

 by Mr. Adkin from Essex. Two very fine females of Anonialon 

 cerifiops, Gr. were also bred from larvae of H. dipsacea, and from 

 pupte of Spilosoma fuliginosa^ L. three males of Phygadeuon nyc- 

 themerus, Gr. 



Mr. Adkin also sent me both sexes oi Pimpla tiucum, Ratz., which 

 he had bred from a lepidopterous larvae from Howth, feeding in 

 thistle stems. Mr. Adkin's contributions show the highly respectable 

 total of forty-nine species of parasites, comprising forty-two Ichneu- 

 monidae and seven Diptera, the lepidopterous hosts numbering twenty- 

 four species. Including those referred to here, Mr. Adkin has sent 

 me altogether a hundred species of parasites. 



