MUTILLA. 293 



broad, and in great part separated from each other ; down the centre run two furrows. 

 The scutellum coarsely punctured, covered all over with long greyish hair. The basal 

 half of the median segment is rounded, the apical half obliquely truncated ; coarsely 

 reticulated, the reticulations especially large at the base, where there is a narrow patch 

 of depressed pubescence, the rest of the segment being almost glabrous ; the median 

 area elongated, slightly contracted in the middle, the apex triangular. The fore part 

 of the propleurae is strongly punctured; the part behind this striolated, the apex 

 aciculated, these portions being depressed. The mesopleurae are moderately strongly 

 punctured and covered with silvery pubescence. The apex of the metapleuree is 

 reticulated ; the other parts broadly depressed and aciculated ; an oblique row of 

 punctures in the centre. The first segment of the abdomen only black at the extreme 

 base ; strongly punctured, especially towards the apex, and sparsely covered with long 

 silvery hair ; the teeth stout, bluntly pointed. The second segment moderately covered 

 with shallow punctures, and bearing short white hair ; the apex fringed with fiery-red 

 hair. The other segments are closely punctured. The pygidium punctured, and 

 covered with ferruginous, and in the centre with longer pale, hair ; in the middle at 

 the apex is a shining space, which is triangular and keeled at the end, and from the 

 point of this triangle a stouter keel runs down to the bottom ; the sides are indistinctly 

 keeled towards the apex. The first ventral segment is narrowed at the base ; then it 

 becomes dilated, the apex of this dilated part having two elongated fovese, extending 

 from the middle to the sides ; the keel is gradually depressed from the base to the 

 apex, but the depression is better marked on the basal portion ; the sides are depressed 

 and bear some large punctures ; the apex obliquely truncated. The second ventral 

 segment has scattered punctures and a row of punctures across the apex ; the other 

 segments are punctured at the apex and fringed with pale hair. The hypopygium has 

 two pairs of somewhat triangular teeth, the apical pair being the longer of the two. 

 The wings have the apical half darker than the basal half. The radial cellule is wide ; 

 the apical abscissa of the radius is curved, the apex almost straight, and it is about one 

 half longer than the basal abscissa. The first cubital cellule is not much longer than 

 the second. The first transverse cubital nervure is curved, oblique, the second roundly 

 curved, the third acutely angled above the middle ; the recurrent nervures are received 

 about the same relative distance beyond the middle of the cellule. At the top the 

 third cubital cellule is a little less in length than the distance bounded by the second 

 transverse cubital and the second recurrent nervures. The transverse median nervure 

 is received in front of the basal. 



This insect is more nearly allied to M. vanduara than to any other Mutilla known to 

 me ; but in that species the apex of the central part of the propleurae is not depressed 

 nor striolate, the median segment has more hair, the head and body are generally more 

 pilose, and the hypopygium has (instead of two pairs of flattened teeth) a continuous 

 keel, raised at the base, between which and near the apex are two flat curved teeth. 



