GOKYTES.— MELLINUS. 85 



not wider than the apex of the petiole, forming a short neck, from which the rest of 

 the segment becomes suddenly dilated. Pygidial area shining, almost glabrous, with 

 scattered punctures along the sides ; the apex rounded, impunctate. The petiole bears 

 long fuscous hair ; the other segments are densely covered with fulvous pubescence ; 

 the petiole and the second segment at the base and apex, the following segments at the 

 apex, the apical one entirely, the first and second segments entirely beneath, and the 

 others at the apex beneath, are yellow ; the second segment above is not much less than 

 one half the length of the third above. Legs yellow, the femora, tibiae, and the base of 

 the tarsi lined with black above ; anterior tarsi sparsely and strongly spined. Wings 

 hyaline, with a fulvous tinge, the stigma pale yellow ; cubitus complete. 



From the preceding species, G. centralis may be readily known by the shining, 

 almost impunctate pygidial area ; the third joint of the antennae longer than the first 

 (one quarter longer than the fourth], the median segment with four yellow marks, &c. 

 G. splendidus agrees with G. centralis in the form of the pygidial area ; but it has the 

 " fiihlerschaft merklich grosser als das dritte Glied." 



MELLINUS. 



Mellinus, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. ii. p. 285 (1793) ; Handlirsch, Sitz. der k. Akad. der Wissensch. 

 Wien, xcvi. p. 53. 



A genus of small extent (only eight species have been described), but of wide distri- 

 bution, being found in the Paleearctic, Oriental, Nearctic, and Neotropical regions. The 

 common European species (M. arvensis) stores its nest with Diptera. 



*/'l. Mellinus pygmaeus. (Tab. V. fig. 5.) 



Mellinus pygmceus, Handl. Sitz. der k. Akad. der Wissensch. Wien, xcvi. p. 71 x . 

 Hab. Mexico, Orizaba (Bilimek 1 , H. H. Smith, and F. D. 0.).— Beazil. 



*/ 2. Mellinus alpestris. (Tab. V. fig. 6.) 



Niger, nitidus ; capite et thoraee acieulatis j clypeo, scapo, lineis pronoti, scutello, macula metanoti, maculis 



abdominis, tibiis tarsisque anticis, flavis ; alis fere hyalinis, nervis nigris. $ . 

 Long. 7millim. 



Sab. Mexico, Xucumanatlan in Guerrero 7000 feet {H. H. Smith). 



Head and thorax clothed with short pubescence ; eyes parallel ; ocelli hardly forming 

 a triangle, and the hinder ocelli separated from the eyes by about the length of the 

 fourth antennal joint and by a somewhat greater distance from each other ; clypeus 

 broadly rounded at the apex, the middle with three short broad teeth ; the clypeus 

 entirely, the base of the mandibles, and the inner orbits of the eyes narrowly, yellow. 

 Two closely situated lines on the pronotum, the tubercles, the tegnlae in part, a 

 squarish mark on the scutellum, a smaller one on the metanotum, and an elongated 



