A Contribution to the Knowledge, oj South African Mutillida. 353 



ing the neck of the female by means of his long mandibles, and the 

 abdomen of the latter is stretched to the utmost and held in position 

 by the hind legs, and perhaps also by the anal spines. 



I have not attempted another key for the 32 species or sexes 

 described in this paper. I have generally compared them to species 

 already described, and where I did not do so I have endeavoured to 

 have the insect fairly figured. 



From the little light afforded by the ascertaining of the identity of 

 sexes, I am of opinion that nearly all the African species will be easily 

 grouped round certain well-defined male forms, and that certain 

 characters now made use of for trying to reduce that world-spread 

 genus into something like order, will no longer be so much depended 

 upon. 



I find that in my previous paper on the South African Mutillidcs I 

 have made use of names already preoccupied, and I propose, there- 

 fore, to change Mutilla ariadna into M. hcbe ; M. acidalia into M. 

 antifjone ; Af. bellona into J/. deiadama ; J/. cassiopc into M. 

 canace ; M. dotJio into M. liriope ; 31. electro, into M. philomcla ; 

 M. hecate into M. atracis ; M. Icda into M. autonoe ; M. megara into 

 M. oxyroe; M. pandora into Af. daphne; M. proserpina into J/. 

 charicloe; and M. tisiphone into J/. thymela. 



FAMILY MUTILLID^E. 



GEN. MUTILLA, Linn., 

 Syst. natur., ed. 10ft, 1758, pp. 343-582. 



MUTILLA CLOANTHA, Per., 

 Annals S. Afr. Museum, i., p. 89. 



Plate VIII., figs. 18, 20. 



? . Black, dotted with black and whitish hairs not densely set, 

 the black hairs occur on the head and thorax, the white, which are 

 silvery, are found on the basal joints of antennas, the legs, the under 

 side, and more sparsely on the abdomen ; head nearly quadrate, 

 much narrower than the prothorax, closely foveolato-punctate, eyes 

 large, reaching to a short distance from the outer angle, which is 

 slightly rounded, antennal tubercle reddish ; prothorax truncate, 

 somewhat diagonally at apex from the centre to the apical angle, 



