ic)2o Johnson. — Irish Ichneumonidae and Braconidae. 7 



IRISH ICHNEUMONIDAE AND BRACONIDAE. 



BY REV. W. F. JOHNSON, M.A., F.E.S., M.R.I. A. 



I AM very pleased in spite of all drawbacks to be able to 

 place before the readers of the Irish Naturalist further notes 

 and list of these insects. For some reason which I do not 

 understand I have met with but few genera and species 

 of Braconidae. Every spring I meet with the two species 

 of Earinus mentioned below in the same place which I have 

 called " lane " but which is really my back avenue. Here 

 the hedges on either side are high and there are nettles 

 and such like on the banks. Here I find Earinus flitting 

 about or sitting on the young shoots of nettle or other 

 plants. Macrocentrus marginater I get always in July and 

 August at Umbelliferae. It is conspicuous by its very 

 long ovipositor. Dr. A. Roman, the well-known Swedish 

 hymenopterist, in a recent letter remarked on the absence 

 of the Braconid genus Ichneutes from my lists. He tells 

 me it is common about Stockholm every spring, and he 

 is much surprised at its absence here seeing that we have 

 plenty of Nematids on which it preys. Among my captures 

 at Portnoo were specimens of the pretty little Barichneumon 

 alhicinctiis , and on the heads of two of these were lumps 

 of a yellow substance. Being uncertain as to what this 

 might be and finding it resisted my efforts to dislodge it, 

 I sent the flies to Mr. Praeger who submitted them to 

 Dr. Pethybridge, and he, on examination, found that the 

 substance was the pollen of some species of Ericaceae. 

 This is an interesting matter as it shows that Ichneumon 

 flies take a share with other insects in the fertilising of 

 flowers. I am very much obliged to Dr. Pethybridge and 

 Mr. Praeger for the trouble they have taken in the matter. 



I recorded^ as a variety of Glypta genalis a form which 

 I had taken in my fields with red markings on the abdomen. 

 Dr. Roman wrote and asked me to look at it again and see 

 if it was not G. bicornis Boie. I could see no trace of horns 

 on the frons and wrote back to say that it did not appear 



^ Irish Naturalist, xxvii.> 191 8, p. 108. 



