116 STRATIOMYID.^ 



1. N. pantherinus Linne. Face moderately produced ; frons white in 

 the male but unspotted black in the female. Abdomen of the male mainly 

 white both dorsally and ventrally, but black dorsally at the base and on the 

 last two segments except on the sidemargius and on the liindmargin of the 

 fifth segment ; abdomen of the female black with an almost equal whitish 

 margin and the usual white dorsal spots. 



^ . Face shining black, but witli an obscurely brownish stripe down the top of 

 the snout ; frons all white (except immediately above the antennae) with a 

 narrow middle channel, and. the front margin of the white part scarcely 

 notched at the middle ; face in combination with the frons produced out to 

 an almost pointed cone or snout more than one-third the length of the eye in 

 profile and not at all curved over at the tip ; frons bare, but the face bears a 

 short sparse adpressed pale pubescence which is continued along under the 

 eyes and which gradually becomes longer and more erect on to the lower hind 

 corner of the eye, after which it becomes rather shorter again up the back of 

 the head ; near the eyes on the lower half of the back of the head there is 

 a very short closely adherent pale grey postocular pubescence ; vertex shining 

 black, long and pointed, with some very short whitish pubescence between 

 and behind the ocelli • ocelli yellow ; proboscis geniculate, long, and black. 

 Eyes apparently touching for about one-third the distance between the 

 occiput and the antennae, but a minute fine pubescence extending from the 

 vertex almost down to the white frons shows that they are not absolutely 

 touching ; facets on the upper two-thirds dilated and much larger than those 

 on the lower third, so that on the upper part the eyes are made to bulge over 

 the occiput • in life the eyes are all dark green or blue green. Antennse dull 

 brownish black, placed in a depression just before the middle of the snout ; 

 the annulated third joint longer than the basal two together, and bearing at 

 its tip the style, which is about as long as the last three annulations of the 

 third joint together, and which is reduced on its apical quarter to a fine hair, 

 whilst there are about two tiny plumes situated at about half its length. 



Thorax and scutellum shining black and finely punctate, with a small 

 whitish yellow spot on the humeri and usually (but not always) vnth. a narrow 

 line from it to the wing-base and thence down between the mesopleurse 

 and pteropleuHB ; postalar calli slightly brownish. Pubescence rather 

 abundant but rather short, whitish yellow, erect or sloping forwards, and 

 universal except on the depressed middle part of the mesopleurse ; rather 

 shorter on the scutellum. 



Abdomen shining whitish (in life) or pale yellowish, l)ut black on the 

 middle part of the basal segment, and thence on to the middle of the second 

 segment (for from one- to two-thirds of its length) as a semicircular or almost 

 triangular black spot, and the f ourtli and fifth segments mainly shining black, 

 but the actual margin of the abdomen all round is white (in life) or pale 

 yellow, and usually on the fourth segment there are two long shallow white 

 (in life) or yellow spots on the extreme foremargin (sometimes continued to 

 the sidemargins or even continuous right across the foremargin) and one 

 middle spot on its liindmargin, but sometimes the latter spot is missing and 

 so are not unfrequently the spots on the foremargin ; pubescence universal 

 and pale yellow, but very short and inconspicuous. Belly all shining yello-\vish 

 except for the darkened extreme base and a blackish line on the middle of 

 the extreme foremargin of the fifth segment, but sometimes the belly is con- 

 siderably blackish on the fourth segment and on nearly all the fifth segment, 

 with a slight darkening near the sides of the liindmargin of the third segment 

 extending almost all across and occupying nearly half the segment, and with 

 the fourth and fifth segments mainly black, or even Ijrown at the base Avitli 

 the third segment bearing a brown fascia. Genitalia when extruded with 

 black side lamellae which have pale pointed tips, between which are rather 

 shorter dull yellowish or darker lamellae. 



Legs black but considerably orange or almost wliitish yellow ; femora 

 shining black, but with the tip broadly yellow and sometimes the base 

 obscurely brownish ; anterior tibiae orange, with occasionally a slight dark 



