80S AUSTRALIAN TABANIDiE, i., 



S. indistinctns Ricardo: while, in colour, it resembles, in some 

 degree, ^S*. sordidus mihi, but it is markedly distinct from both 

 species. Cotype in Coll. Hill. 



SiLVius SORDIDUS, sp.n. 



9- Length, 10-7-11; width of head, 4; width of front at vertex, 

 0-5-0-75; length of wing, 8*7-9 mm. 



Head grey, clothed with fairly long, grey hair; front ochra- 

 ceous; frontal callus shining-black, nearly quadrate, with its 

 upper edge finishing in a blunt point, and with a shallow groove 

 dividing it into two parts, about two-thirds the width of the 

 front at its base, not quite resting on the subcallus, the latter 

 denuded, glossy black; ocelli black, prominent; eyes deep greyish- 

 black, their inner margins parallel; first two segments of antennae 

 golden-yellow, clothed with short, black hairs on their dorsal 

 apices, second segment with an apical fringe of black hairs also, 

 third segment yellowish-brown; palpi pale golden-yellow, with 

 truncate, brown apices, scarcely two-thirds the length of the 

 proboscis, the latter black. 



Thorax grey-brown, black when denuded, clothed with scanty 

 golden hairs; scutellum similar to thorax; pleurae and pectus 

 clothed with greyish-white hairs. 



Abdomen : the first three segments cinnamon.-brown (in one 

 specimen, the first two segments only are cinnamon-brown), the 

 remainder dusky-brown, clothed with brown hairs, segments 

 three to six with small, median, apical spots of golden hairs; 

 venter brown, changing to dusky-brown toward the apex, clothed 

 with greyish bloom. 



Legs: coxae and basal half of femora slaty-grey, apical half of 

 femora and tibiae pale reddish-brown, tarsi dusky-brown; tibial 

 spurs on midlegs dark brown, fairly long, conspicuous, those on 

 the hindlegs short and inconspicuous. 



Wi7igs hyaline; veins dark brown, except the first longitudinal, 

 which is light brown; stigma lemon-yellow, elongate, incon- 

 spicuous; squamae pale creamy, edges brown; halteres brownish. 



Hab. — btapleton, Batchelor, Northern Territory (G. F. Hill). 



