• MESOSTENUS. 219 



halfway laterally round the outer side of the tubercles, which are longish, stout, and 

 curved. Abdomen slender, yellow, above black (except at the base) ; the apex of the 

 postpetiole yellow ; the rest of the abdomen black, yellow at the apices of the seg- 

 ments and beneath. Legs yellow ; the trochanters, femora, and four anterior tarsi black 

 above; the hind tarsi yellow, black at the base and apex; spurs^ black; coxae yellow, 

 except two small black marks on the anterior, two larger ones on the middle, and two 

 longish black stripes on the posterior pairs. Areolet square, stigma testaceous on the 

 lower side. 



14. Mesostenus lamentarius. (Tab. X. fig. 14.) 



Niger, flavo-varius, apice scutelli flavo ; petiolo flavo, medio nigro ; coxis posticis flavis, nigro bilineatis. $ . 

 Long. 15 millim. ; terebra 6 millim. 



Hah. Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui 4000 to 6000 feet (Champion). 



Antennae moderately stout, as long as the body, five of the middle joints of the 

 flagellum yellow. Head yellow, except behind, the vertex in the centre, and the man- 

 dibles, which are black; punctured, shining ; a furrow runs down from the ocelli to the 

 antennal depression. Pro- and mesothorax closely and rather strongly punctured, the 

 pleurae longitudinally striated ; a smooth, shining, impunctate space in the centre of the 

 mesopleura. The prosternum, a large mark on the edge of the pronotum, the tegulae 

 and the tubercle under them, a large oblique mark on the mesopleura, the mesosternum, 

 a large mark under the hind wings, a mark (longer than broad and rounded at the base) 

 on the apex of the middle lobe of the mesonotum, the scutellar carinse, the apical half 

 of the scutellum and postscutellum, yellow. Scutellum shining, longer than broad, 

 covered with scattered punctures. Base of the metanotum coarsely punctured, the apex 

 transversely, the pleurae longitudinally, striated ; on either side of the metanotum is a 

 longish mark, covering the tubercles, and extending above them to the transverse 

 carina as a triangular prolongation ; on the pleura is a large oblique yellow mark ; 

 tubercles longish, curved. Petiole rather broad, furrowed in the centre above, the 

 furrow extending to the apex of the postpetiole ; the apex of the petiole and the base 

 of the postpetiole are broadly black, the black incised at either end. The rest of the 

 abdomen is aciculated ; the gastrocceli, and the segments at the apex, yellow. Legs 

 yellow, the tibiae and tarsi inclining to fulvous, the trochanters and femora broadly lined 

 with black above ; the hind coxae black behind, and with a longish yellow mark in the 

 centre of the black; the extreme base of the hind tibiae and the apices of the 

 tarsi black. Areolet narrow, longer than broad; the apex of the wings slightly 

 smoky. 



15. Mesostenus brachygaster. 



Very similar in coloration to M. lamentarius, except that the mandibles are yellow 

 at the base ; the mark on the disc of the mesonotum is longer than broad, not broader 



2pf2 



