Insects. 8609 



hooks black. Feeds on Lotus corniculatus, Anthyllis vulneraria and other leguminous 

 plants. Is full-fed in May, and spins a bright yellow glossy shuttle-shaped cocoon, 

 very acute at both extremities, attached to the upright flowering stems of grasses ; in 

 this it changes to a smooth black shining pupa, from which the perfect insect emerges 

 in June and July. — Edward Newman. 



Occurrence of Xylomiges conspicillaris at Worcester. — T had a fine specimen of 

 Xylomiges conspicillaris out, on the 14th of April, from a number of mixed pupae dug 

 under elm and oak. At present I have only had one out of 550 pupae. Last year 

 I also had one from about 700 pupae, but it was unfortunately cramped. — E. Horton ; 

 Wick, Worcester, April 21 , 1863. 



Parasites and Hyperparasites. — In the course of last summer an investigation was 

 instituted into the identity or otherwise of a pair of species of Lepidoptera, both of 

 which are somewhat mouse-coloured and might be called without impropriety the town 

 mouse and the country mouse. Both are common, very common, but there is this 

 difference; one, Boarmia rhomboidaria of London collections, is confined to London, 

 and looks dingy and very smoky, as though it had lived for centuries in this smoky 

 city ; the other, Boarmia rhomboidaria of Guenee, looks bright and fresh, and as though 

 it had always lived in the country. I propose to leave the country insect in undis- 

 puted possession of Gueuee's name, and to rechristen the cockney race Boarmia per- 

 fumaria, not on account of any delicious perfume it exhales, but because its appearance 

 is so very, very smoky. Now as far as my investigations have yet proceeded there 

 seems a constant although not great difference between the larvae of the two species, a 

 subject on which I trust I shall hereafter be able to dilate greatly to the edification of 

 the readers of the ' Zoologist ;' but I will not forestall. I have only to say now that the 

 larvae of Boarmia perfumaria have an occasional habit of not producing any Boarmia 

 at all, but a neat little structure which vastly resembles a honeycomb in miniature. 

 This structure is pronounced by Mr. Smith to be the habitation of a gregarious para- 

 site, Microgaster alvearius, yet so great is its perversity that it refuses to produce 

 Microgaster alvearius, and has produced instead two distinct species of Hymenoptera, 

 the first of which appears to be parasitic on the second. They belong to the genera 

 Pteromalus and Tetrastichus, and the species being both heretofore undescribed I 

 have appealed to my friend Mr. Walker in their behalf, and be, with his customary 

 courtesy, has written descriptions, which, being the pith and marrow of my communi- 

 cation, I arrange as a postscript. How the Pteromalus contrived to introduce its eggs 

 into the Tetrastichus, and how the Tetrastichus managed to oust the Microgaster must 

 for the present remain open questions for the consideration of the learned. — Edward 

 Newman. 



Pteromalus Boarmia, Walker. 

 Fcem. iEneus, subtilissime punctatus; caput thorace paullo latins; antennae 



nigrae, subclavatae, thorace vix breviores, basi fulvae; prothorax brevissitnus ; 



scutum subdepressum, parapsidum suturis vix conspicuis; metathorax virides- 



cens, tricarinatus ; abdomen subsessile ellipticum, nigricante cupreum, basi aeneo- 



viride, thorace paullo longius ; pedes fulvi; alae limpid®. 



Female. Bright green. Antennae black, clavate, shorter than the thorax. Thorax 



elliptical, with the usual structure. Abdomen somewhat lanceolate, longer than the 



thorax; hind borders of the segments dark cupreous. Femora and tibiae with yellow 



tips; tibiae yellow at the base j tarsi black. Wings limpid ; veins black ; ulna longer 



VOL. XXI. 2 Q 



