30 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



I have much pleasure in describing tin's insect, as the species of 

 Coleocentrus are rare in collections. All the American forms have been 

 described from Canada, and so far these insects seem to have been 

 found, with one exception, only in our territories. 



During a visit to Sudbury, on the 1 6th of last June, with Mr. Fletcher, 

 we were so fortunate as to take five examples of the fine species described 

 by Mr. Cresson in Vol. I., page 35, of the Canadian Entomologist, and 

 named after Mr. Pettit. I find no record of its occurrence during the 

 score of years which has since elapsed, and the two females taken by 

 Mr. Fletcher and the three males which I secured are therefore highly 

 prized. The females were flying near the ground among the fallen 

 timber, upon which they were also seen to alight, and in addition to 

 those captured two .or three escaped owing to the rough nature of the 

 ground. The males were hovering about bushes, and were not at first 

 recognized as belonging to this genus, as they differ so much in the shape 

 of the abdomen and in method of flight. A female was also taken by 

 Mr. Evans during our stay with him. As the male has not been 

 described, if indeed previously captured, I append its description in such 

 characters as it differs from the female. 



Coleocentrus Pettitii, Cress. 



Male. — Length, 17 to 20 mm. Black, shining. Face below antennae, 

 scape of antennae beneath and palpi yellow. Antennae black, nearly as 

 long as the body, the joints both longer and more numerous than in 

 ? . Legs varying slightly in colour but much paler than those of $ ; the 

 anterior and middle legs, including the tips of coxa?, are almost yellow, 

 as also the posterior tarsi ; posterior femora and tibiae pale rufous, with a 

 more or less defined black stripe down the tibiae behind. Abdomen 

 slender and compressed laterally, as in some Ophionids ; the first seg- 

 ment much narrower than in the $ ; the apex of the last dorsal segment 

 shaped as in $ . 



The posterior tibiae of the females are not black as in the specimen 

 described by Cresson, but rufous or brownish with a black line externally, 

 as in the £ . 



Our species may be tabulated as follows : — 



Head, thorax and abdomen mostly rufous C. rufus, Prov. 



Head and thorax black ; abdomen black or brownish. 



Antennae with yellowish annulus C. mellipes, Prov, 



