50 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



genus Dimorphoptera Smith, appears to share the same character. Unfortu- 

 nately this character cannot be determined in the fossil genera, owing to the 

 position of the specimens. 



? Having exactly the appearance of a Tiphia, but related to Engyeystis, from 

 ■whicli it differs thus : basal nervure joining subcostal much more remote from 

 stigma; first s. m. long, broken by a false vein which passes from near the origin of 

 the first t. c. to near the base of the stigma (the same is found in the Myzinid Ple- 

 sia) ; marginal cell broadly rounded, — almost truncate, at apex ; second s. m. 

 extremely broad below, the first and second s. ms. exceedingly oblique ; first dis- 

 coidal cell at base narrower than first submarginal ; t. m. very oblique (a character 

 of the fossil Lithotiphia) ; hind wings with t. c. oblique (its upper end more basad), 

 and cubital nervure ending about as far basad of upper end of t. m., as half the 

 length of the latter. Stigma well-developed. 



Austrotiphia lirbyi, sp. nov. $ . Length about 13 mm., entirely black, looking 

 like an ordinary Tiphia ; eyes and mandibles as in Tiphia, simple ; punctures nearly 

 as usual in Tiphia ; hind margin of prothorax straight, or rather gently concave, 

 with no median lobe; anterior part of mesothorax smooth; scutellum shining, with 

 very sparse and small punctures ; parapsidal grooves very strong ; tegulae small ; 

 abdomen with small punctures, closer and much smaller and more regular on basal 

 part of segments ; apical ventral plate not greatly surpassing dorsal; legs much as 

 in Tiphia, but hind femora much broadened, sharply keeled below ; hind tibiae 

 short, with five or six rather broad teeth on outer edge ; basal joint of hind tarsus 

 tuberculate on outer side, not spiued ; middle and hind tibiae each with two white 

 spurs; last joint of hind tarsi normal. Shoalliaven, Australia (W. W. Froggatt, 

 186). Captured in 1895, and now the property of the British Museum. Named 

 after Mr. W. F. Kirby, in recognition of his work on Scoliidae. 



In Geotiphia the teeth on the outer edge of the hind tibia are very broad, not 

 spine-like as they are in Tiphia and Engyeystis. In Austrotiphia they are 

 comparatively broad and short, and the last one, in particular, recalls that of 

 Geotiphia. In Tiphia the suture between the first two abdominal segments is 

 evidently depressed at the sides, the abdomen being viewed from above ; this 

 is not the case in Austrotiphia. In this particular, so far as can be seen, Geo- 

 tiphia and Lithotiphia resemble Austrotiphia. Geotiphia has some appearance of 

 having had emarginate eyes, a character of the true Scoliids, but it is impossi- 

 ble to be sure about it. The spotted abdomen is also suggestive of the Scoliids, 

 but not so the venation and the large stigma. When one uses the compound 

 microscope to examine the eyes, the appearance of emargination disappears, and 

 so far as can be seen, they look normal for the Tiphiidae. On the hind leg of the 

 ?, the tibial spurs are very short in Engyeystis, very much less than half the 

 length of the first tarsal joint ; in Austrotiphia these spurs are very long, the long- 

 est (the hind one) being fully three quarters the length of the first tarsal joint ; 

 in the two fossil genera their character has not been determined. Tiphia has 

 them long, like Austrotiphia. The second antennal joint in Austrotiphia is con- 

 spicuously smaller than in Tiphia. In Geotiphia the middle joints of fiagellum 

 are broader than long ; in Austrotiphia ( 9 ) they are about as long as broad ; 



