134 [J»iie, 



large and striking a species, the most conspicuously coloured and, except 

 perhaps T. viaculata, the largest o£ all our Tenthredella spp., if it was 

 really taken in Devonshire about a century ago, should have never since 

 been noticed in this country. 



However, I can now certify that, independently of Stephens's record 

 •' from Plymouth," the species has really appeared, and that quite lately 

 and in some numbers, in one of our Midland counties, namely, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Lichfield. Among a number of Sawflies sent to me thence 

 for naming by Mr. L. A. Carr I was surprised to find a pair of T.flavi- 

 cornis ; and I have since learnt from him that they were taken by 

 himself on an occasion which he perfectly remembers, on the estate of 

 the late Mr. W. W. Worthington near Lichfield. Meeting by chance 

 that gentleman's head-gardener, he was asked whether " big flies," which 

 were appearing in great numbers, were likely to do damage to the trees. 

 He at once set off to investigate the matter, and found a number of the 

 insects, of which he took as many as he could, and asked the gardener to 

 keep any others for him that might be met with. This was in the 

 summer of 1912, but he had pursued the enquiry no further, thinking 

 that the species was probably well known, and had merely kept the 

 specimens till he should have an opportunity of getting them deter- 

 mined. He has now given me two magnificent pairs of these insects, 

 which I had the pleasure of exhibiting at a recent meeting of the 

 Entomological Society of London. 



The only British species with any resemblance in size and colour to 

 Jlavicornis F. is maculata Geoffr., the S S of which have abdomens 

 bi'oadly banded, as is that of Jlavicornis in both sexes, with a peculiar 

 testaceous-yellow or orange, while their apices and basal segments 

 {=propodea^ are black. In the 5 $ of maculata the actual colours 

 are much the same, but the yellowish ring is much narrov^er. The two 

 species, however, may at once be distinguished (1) by the colour of the 

 anteimae — black in maculata, bright orange in Jlaviventris ; (2) by 

 markings of the same colour on the mesonotum oi Jlaviventris, while in 

 maculata the mesonotum is simply black; (3) by the colour of the legs, 

 those of maculata being much darker, e. g. all the femora much blackened, 

 while those oi Jlaviventris, except that the hind femora are blackened, are 

 almost entirely yellow; (4) by the wings, which in Jlaviventris have 

 clouded apices, contrasting noticeably with their glassy orange-veined 

 basal and central areas, while in maculata the wings are equally trans- 

 parent throughout, and the yellow of the veins, costa, stigma, etc., is, I 

 think, in the $ $ especially, much more obscure, looking often almost 

 lu'own. 



