British Braconidse. 
377 
sexes from dipterous larvae seems the only possible mode 
of acquiring certainty, and this is not likely to be 
attempted. Of the twelve species indicated, only six 
declare themselves with tolerable distinctness, viz., 
Tuficornis, fulvicornis, compressa, concinna, prsocipua, 
nervosa : the rest, with their apparent varieties, are liable, 
iu different degrees, to be suspected. 
1. Aspilota ruficornis, Nees. 
Alysia ruficornis, Nees, Mon., i, 248; Hal., Ent. Mag., 
v., 244, ^ ? . 
Asp. ruficornis, Marsh., Species des Hym. d^Eur. et 
d'Alg., Bracon,, vol. ii., p. 434, $ ? . 
$ . Deep black, shining ; abdomen after the 1st segment, 
rufous ; 2nd and following segments cinctured more or less dis- 
tinctly with a fuscous band. Head dilated behind the eyes ; 
vertex broad ; clypeus brown ; mandibles tridentate, broad, rufous; 
palpi rufescent. Antennae shorter than the body, submoniliform, 
rather stout, 2 1-24- jointed, black, with the 6 or 7 basal joints 
testaceous. Mesothoracic sutures effaced ; no discal fovea on the 
mesonotum ; metathorax rugulose, reticulate. Wings hyaline, with 
a brownish tinge ; squamula testaceous ; nervures slender, fusco- 
testaceous ; 2nd abscissa four times as long as the 1st ; anal 
nervure effaced before the extremity. Legs rufo-testaceous. 
Abdomen subpetiolate, much less compressed than in the rest of 
the species, pyriform ; 1st segment one-half longer than broad, 
narrowed towards the base, finely rugulose, blackish, with the 
extreme base rufous ; belly testaceous. Terebra very short. 
(J usually smaller ; antennas longer than the body, 21-24-jointed ; 
nervulation more distinct ; abdomen oblong, depressed ; 1st seg- 
ment almost linear, three times as long as its width ; the following 
segments vary in colour, being sometimes rufous or testaceous with 
the apical segments black, or almost wholly black with a patch or 
tinge of rufescence on the disk. Length, l|-lf ; wings, 3^ lines. 
Var. ^ . Length, 2 lines ; antennee 19-jointed. 
Common in woods, frequenting fungi. Observed by 
Nees in Franconia and the Sudetsch-Gebirge ; I have 
taken a great number in England. 
