316 HYMENOPTEBA. 



Head wider than the thorax, almost transverse in front, behind rather deeply con- 

 cave, very slightly dilated from the eyes onwards ; the posterior angles narrowly 

 rounded, the edges bluntly keeled and ending beneath in a long, stout, curved tooth ; 

 the oral region is black, and covered with long white hair ; the hair on the rest of the 

 head is also white, but shorter ; the mandibles are rufous at the base ; the punctuation 

 is moderately strong. The scape of the antennae is sparsely covered with long pale 

 fuscous hair ; the third joint is nearly three times longer than the fourth, which is of 

 the length of the first ; the middle joints are brownish beneath. The thorax is ferru- 

 ginous above ; it bears a bright golden pubescence ; the base is broadly rounded ; the 

 basal third is dilated, margined ; the apex with an oblique slope and bearing long 

 white hair, the hinder region of the propleurae margined, narrowed at the bottom, and 

 bearing large, widely separated punctures ; the mesopleurae shining, impunctate, 

 glabrous ; the apex of the metapleurae obliquely striolate. The basal abdominal 

 segment black, covered with long white hair ; the second segment black at the base 

 and apex, the centre with bright golden pubescence, the base and apex with long black 

 hair, the sides with silvery pubescence ; the third to the fifth segments covered with 

 pale fulvous hair, except the centre of the fifth, which is clothed with black hair ; the 

 pygidium is covered with black and golden hair. The apical half of the basal ventral 

 segment is keeled, the apex being oblique and piceous in colour; the second segment 

 is strongly punctured ; the other segments are finely and closely punctured, and covered 

 with long pale hair. The hair on the coxae, femora, and tibiae is long and pale, that 

 on the tibiae deep golden ; the tibial spines are stout and black. 



Apart from the difference in coloration, the present species may be known from its 

 allies by the spine on the head being longer, sharper, and curved, while the thorax is 

 not incised in the middle. 



/ 



v 5. Sphaerophthalma croesus. 



Mutilla croesus, Gerst. Archiv f. Natur. xl. 1, p. 57 1 . 

 Hdb. Mexico, Jalapa \ 



I presume this species belongs to this section. 



v 6. Sphaerophthalma huasteca. 



Mutilla capitata, Smith, Cat. Hymen. Ins. iii. p. 59 * ; Blake, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. iii. p. 251 



(nee Lucas) 2 . ■ 



Sphcerophihalma capitata, Blake, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. xiii. p. 246 3 . 



Hab. Mexico \ 



A new name is required for Smith's species. 



