ui^o.] 83 



above and beneatli, spots to connexivum at segmental apices, scattered punctures to 

 sternum and abdomen, and a sublateral punctate fascia, and large central spots on 

 basal and fifth and sixth abdominal segments, black. 



Antennae with the second and tliird joints subequal in length, fourth and fifth 

 joints a little longer, subequal and incrassate ; head about as long as pronotum, 

 which has the lateral angles broadly and convexly produced ; scutellum broad, sub- 

 triangular, its apes rounded ; abdomen about as broad as long. 



Long., 8 mm. ; exp. pronot. angl., 5 mm. 



Rah. : Natal. (Mansel Weale, Coll. Dist.). 



This species is allied in form and structure to the Gimex depressus, 

 Ilerr.-Schiiff., which Stal (Hem. Afr., i, p. 153) seems to include in 

 his genus Ilipla, and where it may remain awaiting the stud}- of 

 further material. 



Upper Warlingham, Surrey : 

 February, 1900. 



MIMETIC EESEMBLANCE BETWEEN 



PARAGUS BICOLOR, Fab., A DIPTERON, AND FROSOFIS 



VARIEGATA, Fab., AN ACULEATE HYMENOPTERON. 



BY EDWARD SAUNDERS, F.L.S. 



Whilst collecting last August at St. Briac in Brittany I caught 

 a small fly which, for the moment, I thought was a Prosojns variegata 

 $ ; it was on Foeniculum vuJgare., on which plant I had taken the 

 Prosopis. On examination I found its general form and coloration 

 both very suggestive of those of the Prosopis, and to my surprise, on 

 looking at its face, I found, that like the Prosopis, it had a lateral 

 milky-white stripe bordering the inner margin of each eye ; these 

 stripes, taken together with the general similarity of colour in the 

 two insects, completed a resemblance which was most striking. 



Prosopis variegata ? has the head and thorax black, the following parts, viz., 

 a somewhat triangular patch on each side of the face bordering the eye, the collar 

 and tubercles of the prothorax, the tegulse and two little spots at the basal angles 

 of the scutellum, being yellowish or creamy-white ; the abdomen is red, with the 

 apical segments black ; the legs are black, with the bases of the tibifB yellow. 



Paragus bicolor ? has the head and thorax bronzy-black ; the face has two 

 parallel-sided, creamy-white, lines along the margins of the eyes ; the thorax in 

 front has some glittering white hairs, which more or less suggest the pale collar of 

 the bee ; a small patch of white hairs occupies the position of the bee's tubercles ; 

 the scutellum is pale at the apex, and the white halteres are very suggestive of the 

 scutellar spots ; the legs are testaceous, not black, but still, as in the bee, the bases 

 of the tibiae are yellow ; the abdomen is narrowly black at the base, widely so at 

 the apex. 



