506 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 94 



simple matter. Recent studies by the writer have shown that the fe- 

 males possess interesting specializations as well, for the subgenital plate 

 and the eighth abdominal sternites have become adapted to the curious 

 mating organs of the males. Thus we see that in X. susiikii ISIatsu- 

 mura and Shiraki the subgenital plate is replaced by three pairs of 

 downward-directed prongs. In three other species (X. gur-neyi, 

 X. szechwanensis^ and X. transversa — all described hereinafter) tlie 

 •eighth abdominal sternite is specialized, and two other new species 

 {X. phyllocerca and X. emarginata) have teeth at the apex of the ven- 

 tral valvulae. Furthermore, color characteristics are identical in each 

 sex and constant. In X'. spathiiJata the dorsum of the head is reddish 

 brown to the base of the fastigial cone, which is pale green, and in two 

 other new species, X. 'pJiyllocerca and X. megafurcula, the dorsum of 

 head and pronotum is dark reddish brown. Several species have a 

 dorsolateral stripe running from the inner margin of the eye to the 

 posterior margin of the pronotum. and in one species, X. szechican- 

 ensis, there are four stripes on the dorsum of the head, the two central 

 ones uniting onto the fastigial cone. These constant color features 

 in conjunction with the genitalic adaptations and the varying but con- 

 stant length of the ovipositor should make the genus Xiphidiopsis a 

 favorite among taxonomists. 



In 1936 the writer surmised that practically every mountain range 

 in south China had its indigenous species. In the present work seven 

 new species have been described from Mount Omei, 11,000-foot sacred 

 mountain of the Chinese in western Szechwan Province, and two 

 other new species from another source come from that mountain. 

 Even 9 sj^ecies probably does not represent more than half of the 

 Xiphidiopsis fauna of ISIount Omei. 



In 1933 Uvarov described the first species of the genus as X. davata 

 from southern Kansu Province, and in 1936 the writer described 

 X. hastaticercus from Loh Fan Shan in central Kwangtung Province 

 and recorded the Formosan X. suzukii for the first time from Hupeh 

 Province in east-central China. In 1939 Ebner described X. hituber- 

 culatus from Chekiang Province, and in 1941 the writer added 5 

 new species mainly from Kiangsi and Chekiang to the China list. 

 These came from the Heude Muesum in Shanghai. With the 12 new 

 species described in the present paper, the number of Chinese species 

 is raised to 21. An additional 14 species await description in material 

 in the writer's collection. It is doubtful whether these 35 species rep- 

 resent more than half the number to be found in the Chinese fauna. 

 In addition, there are at least 16 ^Malayan and 3 Philippine species 

 of the genus described by Dr. H. H. Karnv and Morgan Hebard. 



