GENUS JANTHINOSOMA 337 



(J . — Head as in the ? ; proboscis long, thin, black ; palpi not as 

 long as the proboscis, black, with purple, and sometunes bronzy reflec- 

 tions, very thin ; penultimate and antepenultimate joints about equal; 

 the apical joint two-thirds the length of the penultimate, second short, 

 first very small ; the apical joint ends in one long and several smaller 

 bristles. Antennae banded with broad grey bands and narrow pale 

 brown ones, basal joint black ; plumes deep brown, last two joints 

 brown. Fore ungues unequal, one very thick, untoothed, the smaller 

 one thin and serrated ; mid unequal, neither toothed, the large one very 

 broad ; hind equal, small, simple. Length. — 5*5 mm. 



Habitat. — Sierra Leone (September). Old Calabar (Annett). 



2. ERETMAPODITES (?) ARGYROPUS (Walker). 



Vide Uranotosnia argyropoda. 



It is possible that Walker's G. argyropus should be referred 

 to this genus ; but for the sake of uniformity I follow Mr. Theo- 

 bald in placing its description under the genus Uranotosnia. 



Genus VI. JANTHINOSOMA, Arribalzaga 



(modified). 



This is a small but very natural group of South American 

 gnats originally separated from Culex by Arribalzaga, whose 

 definition, however, seems to miss their real common points of 

 peculiarity, and to insist too much on others that are really 

 found in many other Culicina. They are of moderate size, 

 and, seen at a little distance, are very sombre-looking insects, 

 such decoration as they possess being almost confined to their 

 ventral aspects, so that one would hardly suspect that Sabethes 

 and Megarhina were their nearest relatives. On closer examina- 

 tion, however, it will be found that their dark-toned scaly covering 

 glows with the same brilliant metallic tints as is the case in those 

 genera, and that the scales of the legs, though not disposed in 

 any specially eccentric fashion as in Sabethes, are really very 

 long and dense. The thorax is clothed with broad falciform 

 scales, much like those of the same region in Megarhina, and 

 exactly similar scales take the place of the narrow curved scales 

 of Culex on the head, though here they are mixed with erect 

 forked scales, so that the covering of this region is essentially 

 that of a Culex. They may be defined as follows. 



Janthinosoma. CtdicidcB with the ^ antenna considerably 

 longer than the proboscis, but very short in the J . The 

 abdomen and legs clothed with scales, deeply coloured, but having 

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