148 [ June > 



(f) Ground-colour yellowish as in the $, but the abdomen maybe 



more or less widely blackened above (no part of the body is 

 red). This form may possibly be included by Cameron under 

 his " nassata." It seems not to be very common... 



concolor, Knw. (Surrey). 



All the above forms occur on the Continent also. 



(g) I suspect that nigriceps, C. (type at S. Kensington), is also a form 



of this species. Its coloration, described (so far as I can see) 

 correctly by the author, separates it from any other known 

 species. But the whole apex of the 'abdomen, including the 

 hypopygium, has been removed, no doubt to extract the saws, 

 and it is impossible to say what the insect really is. Nothing 

 like it is known to continental authorities ! . . . 



litter at a, Geoff r. 

 (= nassata, Thorns.) 



— Hypopygium simple and normal, not excised at apex 3. 



3. The original yellowish ground-colour of the body is replaced almost entirely 

 by black, or (on the abdomen only) by black and red. Such white or 

 yellow markings as occur are part of the pictura albida 4. 



— Apart from pictura albida much of the body retains its pale yellowish 



ground-colour. Certain regions of it, especially of its dorsal surface, 

 may be blackened more or less extensively in various forms, but on the 

 whole these may be called, as Cameron calls them, " the yellow species." 

 No form known to me as British could well be confounded with any of 

 those whose ground-colotirs are black and red. 



There has been and still remains a good deal of doubt and confusion about 

 the classification and nomenclature of these forms. Cameron made at least six 

 species out of them. Konow in his Tableaux recognized only three, but latterly 

 told me that he held a fourth (dorsivittata, Cam.) to be a "good species." 

 Dr. Enslin distinguishes two, viz., (1) nassata, L. which includes Konow's 

 " nassata " and " tilise " (=raddatzi, Knw., olim) perhaps also dorsivittata, C , and 

 (2) a species which Konow called dorsalis, Lep. (but it would seem that this name 

 is unavailable, and at present I can only call it "sp?"). Personally I find it 

 almost impossible to distinguish Konow's " dorsalis " from the smaller forms 

 which Konow called varieties of tilise, but I will mention the characters on 

 which it has been held that they can be divided. 



Forms of nassata. $ . Forms of sp ? (= "dorsalis," Knw.), ? 



Vertex less transverse, i.e., squarer(!) Vertex more transverse, the dividing 



and completely bisected by a furrow abbreviated posteriorly 



longitudinal furrow. (i.e., rather a pit than a trench.) 



Larger, 12 mm. long (but only typical Smaller 9 to 10 mm. long. 



" nassata " reaches such dimen- 

 sions in this country !). 



