RHAPHIOCERA.— HERMETIA. 27 



rendered darker by microscopic black pile ; denuded, and therefore less coloured, spots 

 in the middle on the front as well as on the hind side of the tibiae (perhaps a sexual 

 character) ; tarsi brown, the first joint of the four hind ones white, the tip brown. Hal- 

 teres with a greenish knob. Wings : the interval between the third vein and the costa 

 yellowish-brown ; a cloud of the same colour crosses the extreme proximal end of the 

 first basal cell, and fills out the discal ; the costal cell (between the auxiliary and the 

 costa) is subhyaline, but the space between the auxiliary and first vein is brownish ; the 

 distal half of the first and second posterior cells has a pale brownish-grey tinge, which 

 is prolonged towards the anal angle along the posterior margin, filling out nearly the 

 whole third and fourth posterior cells; the fifth vein is clouded with brown on its proximal 

 portion ; the triangular cell between the root of the wing and the basal cells is pure 

 hyaline. A single male. 



HERMETIA. 



Hermetia, Latreille, in Diet. d'Hist. nat. Deterville, xxiv. (1804) . 



This genus includes a great variety of types, differing considerably in the general 

 shape of the body, as well as in the structural details ; it would be useless and confusing, 

 however, to introduce new genera for them. 



My material not being sufficient for a monographic treatment of these interesting 

 forms, I will merely draw attention to the coloration of the eyes, which, in this genus, 

 shows a variation corresponding in a measure to the diversity in outward shape of the 

 different species. I have revived on wet sand the eyes of the eight American species 

 before me, and have found three different types of coloration as follows : — 



1. Eyes green, with numerous purple transverse lines and dots, sometimes connected, 



and forming a design in zigzag : Hermetia illucens, H. coarctata, H. crabro, 

 H. aurata, H. comstocM. 



2. Eyes unicolorous : Hermetia formica, H. pterocausta. 



3. Eyes green, with three large purple spots : Hermetia relicta. 



Besides North and South America, especially in their warmer regions, there is, so far 

 as I know, only one other region where the true Hermetim have been found, and that 

 is the Austro-Malayan Archipelago. Hermetia (Massy cita) cerioides, Walker, which 

 occurs there, has the eyes very like H. illucens ; a double zigzag purplish design on 

 blue ground. In the Berlin Museum I have seen a Hermetia from Northern Australia 

 which is very like H. illucens in its colouring. 



The eight American Hermetim mentioned below may be tabulated as follows : — 



Eyes pubescent. 



Abdomen with a dense, conspicuous golden tomentum. 



Femora black 1. aurata, Bell. 



Femora red 2. comstocki, Willist. 



Abdomen without such tomentum 3. crabro, sp. n. 



e2 



