SPH^KOPHTHALMA. 315 



Head wider than the thorax, somewhat convex in front, broadly concave posteriorly, 

 very slightly dilated behind the eyes; the hinder edges bluntly acute ; the lower tooth 

 straight, narrowed gradually to the apex, which is rounded ; the part from a little 

 above the antennae covered with dense golden pubescence and hairs, which hide the 

 sculpture entirely ; the outer orbits covered with pale fulvous hair ; the clypeus 

 punctured, and fringed with long pale fulvous hair ; the mandibles black, at the base 

 covered with long fulvous hair. The scape of the antennae covered with golden hair ; 

 the third joint is more than double the length of the fourth, which is shorter than the 

 second. The thorax is a little longer than the head ; the base is rounded ; the sides 

 next the head are oblique, straight, and end in a blunt, triangular, short tooth, then 

 straight for a short distance, and then curved inwardly and narrowed, becoming a little 

 broader again towards the apex, but still narrower than the basal part ; the apex has 

 an oblique slope. The apical part of the propleurse is strongly punctured ; there is a 

 striolated band near the middle of the mesopleurae ; the metapleurae are reticulated. 

 Above, the thorax is clothed with bright golden pubescence, except a large semicircular 

 black mark at the base, and the median segment, except the centre, which is black, the 

 golden part on the median segment becoming narrowed to a point at the bottom. The 

 median segment bears long white hair. The basal abdominal segment is covered with long 

 white hair, which is particularly thick at the sides ; the second segment is golden, except 

 at the base, where it is black, and from it projects in the centre a cup-shaped black mark, 

 the black being also continued down the sides to near the middle ; the apex is broadly 

 black, the black projecting somewhat triangularly in the middle. The sides of the 

 second and the third to the fifth segments (the latter at the sides only) are covered 

 with pale fulvous hair. The pygidium is finely rugose and piceous in the centre ; at 

 the base it is covered with thick golden hair ; the sides have a few long pale fuscous 

 hairs. The apex of the basal ventral segment is broad in the middle and not keeled ; 

 the second segment is strongly punctured and covered all over somewhat thickly with 

 fulvous hair ; the other segments are finely and closely punctured at the apex, and 

 finely transversely shagreened at the base, the apex bearing dull fulvous hair ; the last 

 segment is thickly covered with long fulvous hair. The legs are thickly covered with 

 white hair; the tibial and tarsal spines are ferruginous. The form of the central 

 black mark on the base of the abdomen varies— it may be square, rounded, or trans- 

 verse, or incised at the apex ; the size of the black mark on the base of the thorax 

 varies also. There is likewise a slight variation in the form of the sides of the thorax, 

 and the colour of the hair on the head varies from very bright to pale golden. 



H Sphaerophthalma jocularis. (Tab. XIV. fig. 3, $ .) 



Lsete ferrugiuea ; abdomine nigro, segmento 2° late ferrugineo. $ . 

 Long. 13-14 millim. 



Hob. Mexico, Amula in Guerrero 6000 feet (H. H. Smith). 



2ss2 



