258 HYMENOPTERA. 



base, the apical margins of the anterior pair shghtly clouded, the 

 uervures fusco-ferruoinous. Abdomen elongate- ovate, subopake ; 

 the j)etiole short, about the length of the first segment, and 

 having an obscure green or blue tinge. 



Male. Length If -2 inches. — Closely resembling the female, 

 but having a silvery pubescence on the face and sides of the 

 clypeus ; the mandibles ferruginous in the middle ; the thorax 

 densely pubescent, more so than in the other sex ; the posterior 

 coxae very pubescent; the anterior and intermediate femora 

 more or less ferruginous beneath ; the intermediate segments 

 of the abdomen have their basal margins frequently more or less 

 ferruginous. In this species the first recurrent nervure nearly 

 unites with the second transverso-medial nervure, and the third 

 submarginal cell is very much restricted towards the marginal 

 cell. 



Hab. Brazil. 



74. Sphex proxima. B.M. 



Female. Length 1 1 lines. — Black : the face thinly covered 

 with golden pubescence, most dense on the sides ; the face and 

 cheeks have a thin long pale yellow pubescence ; the mandibles 

 sculptured externally with longitudinal stria3. Thorax : the pro- 

 and mesothorax above are covered with a very short black velvety 

 pubescence, the metathorax thinly covered with cinereous pubes- 

 cence ; the wings dark fuscous with a violet iridescence. Abdo- 

 men ferruginous, with the petiole and base of the fifth segment 

 black; the sixth segment and the apical margin of the fifth rugose. 



Hab. Brazil. 



This species most closely resembles the Pepsls Crucis of Fabri- 

 cius, but the colour of its pubescence and wings, and also its 

 striated mandibles, easily distinguish it. 



75. Sphex costipennis. 



Sphex costipennis. Spin. Mem. Accad. Torino, xiii. 54. 35 (1853). 

 Hab. Brazil (Para). 



76. Sphex difficilis. B.M. 

 Sphex difficdis, Spin. Mem. Accad. Torino, xiii. 54. 36 (1853). 

 Hab. Brazil (Para). 



77- Sphex nitidiventris. B.M. 



Sphex nitidiventris. Spin. Mem. Accad. Torino, xiii. 53. 34 (1853). 

 Hab. Brazil (Para). 



