NEW SPECIES OF INDIAN IIYMENOPTERA. li 



Sphex p.etractus, n, sp. 



$ Head and thorax with rather thick but short pubescence^ which 

 hides the sculpturing, abdomen pruinose ; clypeus longer than broad> 

 Very convex, its anterior margin nearly transverse in the centre^ 

 rounded at the sides; eyes slightly divergent towards vertex, occiput and 

 cheeks not much developed ; mandibles simple, rather long and slen- 

 der ; second joint of flagellum of antennse longer than third ; pronotum 

 short, not notched ; scutellum notched, but not postscutellum ; median 

 segment long, gradually sloping, narrowed and rounded at apex, without 

 a furrow, coarsely but obscurely transversely striate ; petiole rather 

 longer than the second segment, which is suhequal to the third in length ; 

 ventral segments not pubescent or punctured : legs long> slender, 

 rather feebly spined, the claws bideiitate, the inner calcar of posterior 

 tibia? pectinated. Black ; the apical margins of the abdominal seg- 

 ments sometimes very narrowly testaceous, the abdomen below red ; 

 pubescence and pile greyish white ; wings hyaline, their apical mar- 

 gins very slightly infttscated. 



Long. 15-17 mm. 



Habitat : Qnetta ; three specimens. 



In Bingham's key this species would cortle next to S. nivosus, biit it 

 is not very nearly allied to that species. Of the European species if 

 appears to come nearest to S. argentulus (Fabr.), but it is much smaller, 

 the wings are not dark at base, and the pubescence is greyish white$ 

 not black. 



PSEN REFPvACTUS, 11. Spj, 



9 Clypeus and front with the sculpturing hidden by the pubes- 

 cence, vertex of head impunctate, mesonotum finely, sparsely, and shal- 

 iowly punctured, abdomen smooth and shiniilg ; clypeus broader than 

 long, its anterior margin rounded, with a very slight incision in the 

 centre ; inner margin of eyes rounded, the width apart of eyes at Ver- 

 tex being slightly greater than below ; antenna? inserted about 

 the length of the third joint of the flagelltlm above the posterior margin 

 of the clypeus, strongly clavate, the second joint of the flagellum half as 

 long again as tho third, front with a carina between the antennse ; 

 cheeks strongly developed ; pronotum short, below the level of the me- 

 sonotum, the latter broader than long, rounded anteriorly ; median 

 segment with a triangular portion tit base depressed, the depressed por- 

 tion longitudinally striate, and produced into a somewhat narrow 



