188 G. E. J. NIXON 



Pyralid, Botys verticalis Hiibner. This latter record may well be wrong. The 

 species is gregarious and more or less completely hides its mass of cocoons in a ball of 

 flocculent silk. 



It is highly probable that this species is not distinct from the N. American longi- 

 cornis Provancher. There are four specimens of longicornis in the British Museum, 

 all females and determined by Muesebeck. Apart from having the propodeal keel 

 slightly less well defined, there is nothing to separate them from pallipes. Without 

 seeing further specimens and in the absence of information concerning host and 

 cocoons, I hesitate to say that the name " longicornis " should give way to "pall- 

 ipes ". 



The male of pallipes is distinctive in that the claspers are obliquely truncate at 

 apex, each clasper being sharply pointed at apex above. A similar modification 

 occurs in species of the vitripennis-group. 



The CONGOENSIS-Grovp 



Ocelli in a rather high triangle, the transverse, posterior tangent to the anterior 

 ocellus passing slightly in front of the posterior pair. The antenna of the female 

 tends to be very short but it is possible that the length of the segments may vary 

 within wider limits than I have allowed for. 



Especially important for the recognition of the group is the long, inner spur of the 

 hind tibia. It is only on this character and the abscence of the lateral pronotal 

 furrow that separation from some elements of the octonarius-growp, such as thomp- 

 soni Lyle (1927), is possible. Distribution : Old World. 



Key to Species 

 Females 



1 Propodeal spiracle very large, separated from the posterior corner of the propodeum 



by a distance not greater than its own diameter. 



Antenna very short, hardly longer than head plus thorax ; flagellum slightly 

 thickened in the middle with at least the middle segments not longer than wide ; 

 flagellum very bristly (Text-fig. 215) ; mesoscutum highly polished, impunctate and 

 only sparsely hairy except right in front ; metacarp hardly longer than the broad 

 stigma (Text-fig. 219 ) ; tergite 2 with shining, transverse, triangular field that 

 shows faint rugosity towards sides ; ovipositor sheath short, blunt, hardly pro- 

 jecting beyond the short hypopygium ; hind tarsus very short, segment 4 being 

 very little longer than wide (Text-fig. 215) . . . congoensis de Saeger 26 



Belgian Congo. Uganda. Type in the Congo Museum, Tervuren. 



Host: Dichocrocis crocodera Meyrick (Pyraustidae), on coffee. Gregarious. 

 Cocoons white, loosely heaped together. 



The species is easily recognised by the large propodeal spiracles. 

 - Propodeal spiracle of normal size ; flagellum not bristly, its pubescence short, dense 

 and of ordinary appearance ; hind tarsus longer, segment 4 being more obviously 

 longer than wide ............ 2 



2 Thorax strongly flattened. 

 ™Apanteles congoensis de Saeger, 1941 : 344. 



