34 Annals of the South African Museum. 



M. speculatrix, Sm., caught in copula by Dr. Purcell, Mr. E. 

 Lightfoot, and myself. 



M. helle, Per., both sexes found drowned in a pool of water, still 

 adhering to one another. 



M. aglaea, Per., bred by Dr. H. Brauns from the nest of a 

 Ceratina. 



It is also most probable that Mutilla angulata, Sm., is the male of 

 M. horrida, Sm., and that the males of M. tecmessa and M. agave 

 are what I believe them to be, but I have some doubt as to the 

 identity of the male of M. themis, although both sexes were sent to 

 me as having been caught in coitil; M. exaltata, Sm., might also 

 prove to be the male of M. alcyone, Pe'r. 



It is difficult to estimate the number of South African species, but 

 I think that it will be probably double the one now known. Dr. H. 

 Brauns, who is one of the few entomologists who have paid special 

 attention in South Africa to the collecting of the Order, has collected 

 in the vicinity of Port Elizabeth no less than 45 species. In my rare 

 collecting trips I have found an abundance of them on the edge of 

 the Karroo, while Namaqualand, Damaraland, and neighbouring 

 territories, have not yet been searched systematically for that special 

 group of parasitic insects. 



In spite of their great resemblance all the world over, there is a 

 difference in the general appearance and colouring of the forms from 

 the western parts of South Africa and from the eastern ones ; that 

 difference is not so well marked as in other Orders, but yet it is 

 noticeable, and will doubtless be more apparent when more species 

 have been collected. 



For facilitating the identification I have divided the species in 

 different groups according to the disposition or absence of the 

 abdominal bands or spots. This arrangement may prove to be only 

 provisional, but I have found it so far to fail less egregiously than 

 the others I have attempted. 



