188 Transactions. 



Abdomen broader than the thorax at the widest part, apically truncated, 

 and shiny Prussian blue ; the genital appendages paired, tawny, 2-jointed, 

 and hairy. 



o 1 . Antennae a little longer than those of the $ owing to the elongation 

 of the flagellar segments ; 2nd joint more or less black. Apex of palpi 

 darker than $ and the hair beneath the eyes longer. Wings and legs also 

 darker in colour. Thorax dull black and slightly shiny. 



o and $. Length, 5 mm. ; wing, 4 mm. 



Habitat. — Abundant in swarms about bushes and flowers in the sunlight. 

 Christchurch and Otago (Hutton) : Christchurch, December; Manawatu, 

 November and December (Miller) : Wellington (Atkinson). 



B. cuprea Hutton. 



B. cuprea, Hutton, I.e., p. 6. 



$. Eyes bare, broadly dichoptic ; front brilliant shiny black ; antennae 

 not slender, situated below middle line, barely half length of head-width 

 and comparatively shorter than those of violacea ; 2nd joint black and 

 bristly ; flagellum blackish-brown — except for the first segment, which is 

 tawny and broader than the others — composed of 7 segments of about 

 equal length* covered by a dense stiff pubescence and terminating in 3 

 apical hairs ; the ultimate segment, though short, is about twice the length 

 of the penultimate, which bears longer hairs on the anterior margin. 

 Occiput depressed. 



Thorax humped and rounded above, brilliant bronze sometimes with 

 a deep bluish-green sheen ; scutellum coloured as dorsum, the 4 spines 

 brownish-yellow but not large. 



Legs tawny, not banded ; onychotarsi black, protarsi about half the 

 length of whole joint ; posterior femora not thickened. 



Wings faintly tinged with yelknv, the stigma and veins yellow ; anterior 

 branch of 3rd vein arising at right angles and slightly curved to the costa 

 (fig 17), the 1st section of the 3rd vein shorter than anterior cross-vein ; 

 discal cell apically acute ; 3 posterior veins, but the 1st and 2nd arise from 

 a common pedicle, the 1st and 3rd posterior cells being thus contiguous at 

 apex of the discal cell ; 3rd posterior vein distinctly separated from the 

 2nd basal cell ; 5th and 4th vein evanescent toward their origin, the latter 

 somewhat indistinct. Halteres tawny. 



Abdomen ovate, broader than the thorax at the widest part, shiny 

 blackish - brown. From the apical segment project a pair of short, 

 2-jointed appendages, the 1st joint tawny and longer than the 2nd, which 

 is black, ovate, and terminates in long hairs. 



o. "Eyes contiguous; abdomen narrow and linear; the 2nd posterior 

 cell petiolate " (Hutton). 



There is now no male specimen in Hutton's collection, and as I have 

 no representatives of this species beyond Hutton's female type above 

 described a fuller description is at present impossible. 



$. Length, 4 mm. ; wing, 3 mm. 



Habitat. — Auckland and Maketu (Broun). 



* As Hutton's type, described above, is attached to a card, the first antennal joint, 

 face, and proboscis are not visible ; and, since the wings are incumbent, the venation 

 cannot be accurately determined without damaging the specimen. 



