British Braconidse. 
395 
Fasciculus alter/^ whicli is now difficult to procure. It 
contains 21 species belonging to our Fauna^ and must 
form the groundwork of any future treatises on the 
subject. Haliday^s labours were succeeded by a blank 
period of fifty-five years^ during which only five 
scattered notices of Dacnusa appeared, these occur in 
the works of Ratzeburg, Groureau, and Yollenhoven, but 
four of them are insufficient for specific determinations. 
My own observations, however desultory and imperfect, 
have succeeded in increasing the number of known 
species to about 40, several of which are not indigenous ; 
it would not be difficult, with more time, greatly to 
augment this number. My captures on the continent 
have been very few, and boxes of Braconidae received 
from correspondents hardly ever contain a Dacnusa, or 
if any occur, they are usually unset, and their examina- 
tion and description consequently impracticable, except 
in a few cases. It is merely a waste of time to collect 
specimens of this sort without displaying the wings, 
etc. — they are too small and too stubborn to be relaxed, 
and can only be rejected as useless. 
Forster's Synopsis contains 14 so-called genera, cutting 
off as many species of Dacniisaj and the same process 
might have been applied to the rest, so as totally to 
disintegrate the genus. I have not adopted these 
divisions, which only multiply difficulties, for it is easier 
to identify an insect directly by its specific diagnosis 
than to trace it through an artificial genus resting on 
the same characters, and often only obscurely indi- 
cated. 
Following out the plan of these papers, I have 
endeavoured to tabulate the species, but the task is so 
difficult as to border upon the impossible. The following 
attempt therefore will not, perhaps, stand much criticism, 
yet it may give some slight assistance in the investigation 
of many species. 
Table of Species. 
(2) 1. First cubital areolet contiguous to the stigma 
wHch cuts off the 1st abscissa 1. adducta, Hal. 
(1) 2. First cubital areolet separated from the 
stigma by the 1st abscissa. 
(52) 3. Recurrent nervure pointing to the lower . ' 
angle of the 1st cubital areolet. 
(11) 4t. Second abdominal segment rugulose or acicu- - 
late, sometimes only at the extreme base , ! 
(talaris) ; exceptionally smooth in a variety 
of that species. 
