HYMENOPTERA. 193 



having a broad dark fuscous cloud at their apical margins, the 

 nervures black, suffused with fuscous ; the legs obscurely blue ; 

 the metathorax transversely strigose. Abdomen adorned with 

 an obscure greenish-blue iridescent pile ; the apex clothed with 

 black pubescence. 



Male. — Very closely resembling the female in colour ; the 

 antennee porrect, the seven apical segments entirely cream- 

 coloured, with usually three or four additional joints, white be- 

 neath ; the posterior legs very long, the tarsi broad and com- 

 pressed. Abdomen subpetiolate, of an obscure blue-black colour; 

 beneath smooth and shining, the fourth segment thinly covered 

 with black pubescence. 



The number of pale apical joints in the antennae of this species 

 varies greatly ; of four specimens examined (males), the numbers 

 are, three, five, seven, and eight and a half; the number is the 

 same in all the females yet obtained, namely seven. 



Hab. Brazil (Para). (Coll. H. W. Bates.) 



15. Pepsis leucobasis. B.M. 



Female. Length 14 lines. — Black, entirely covered with a 

 blue pilosity ; on the mesothorax it has a green tinge, varying in 

 brightness ; the scape has a blue or green tint, the flagellum black; 

 wings brown-black, with varying shades of purple and violet iri- 

 descence ; the apical margins of all the wings have a narrow 

 white border, the base of the anterior pair to nearly one-third of 

 their length, silvery ; the extreme base black ; the metathorax 

 transversely rugose, the posterior lateral angles slightly pro- 

 duced ; the abdomen of a shining blue. 



The male closely resembles the female, only differing in being 

 more slender, and in having the antennae porrect and the legs 

 more elongate. 



Hab. Brazil; British Guiana. 



16. Pepsis lucidula. B.M. 



Female. Length 12 lines. — Black, adorned with a bright 

 changeable iridescent blue pile ; the legs have a brilliant purple 

 reflection, and the vertex parts of the thorax and abdomen pre- 

 sent a variety of deep black shades in different lights ; the fla- 

 gellum black, the scape blue; the mandibles nigro-piceous ; 

 the articulations of the joints of the palpi pale testaceous ; the 

 clypeus widely emarginate ; the prothorax swollen on each side ; 

 the scutellum striated, but smooth in the centre, which is 

 elevated ; the metathorax transversely coarsely rugose-striate, 

 having a longitudinal impressed line in the middle : wings dark 



K 



