122 STRATIOMYID.E 



" duo fere vltivia, Imea transversa nigra lata. Abdomen suhtus nigrum marginihvs 

 " segmentornm albis. Genua a^6a. Yihis&jMllidce." This description applies'almost 

 without doubt^ to the male of the species now described, and although it is almost 

 certain that Linne did not recognise the close connection of his male M. idiginosa 

 of 1767 with his female M. j^cmtherina oi 1758, there is nothing to be gained by- 

 refusing to accept the generally recognised nomenclature of N. jjantherinus and 

 JV. idiginosus. 



3. N. notatus Zetterstedt. Face comparatively shortly produced; 

 frons with whitish markings in both sexes. Abdomen partly white 

 dorsally and ventrally. 



S . Face (fig. 119) moderately shining black, and produced into a short blunt cone 

 or snout of which the small frons forms a part ; the snout is brownish dorsally 

 after the antennae and at the tip, and bears a rather conspicuous short yellow 

 depressed pubescence which extends slightly upwards on to the pale yellow 

 sides of the frons and downwards (becoming longer, sparser, and erect) round 

 under the eyes and on to the moderately inflated lower part of the back of 

 the head ; this lower part of the back of the head also bears short adpressed 

 orange pubescence, but on the upper part the dilated facets of the eyes bulge 

 over so that the postocular pubescence practically dies out ; frons small, 

 mainly whitish or yellowish or almost orange with a very narrow middle 

 channel which almost (or rarely quite) divides the pale part into two spots, 

 so that at any rate the front margin of the pale part is notched in the middle 

 (and sometimes considerably so), but all the middle front part of the frons 

 and the top hind angle are shining black, and the whole of the frons is bare 

 except for the previously mentioned adpressed yellow pubescence on the 

 lower part ; vertex moderately shining black and so very gradually narrowed 

 forwards that it is difficult to say when the eyes appear to touch, and in fact 

 they do not absolutely touch but only appear to do so for nearly one-third 

 the distance between the occiput and the antennae ; there is some very short 

 white pubescence behind the ocelli and on the narrow forward prolongation 

 of the vertex. Eyes microscopically hairy, and as just mentioned almost 

 touching for a considerable space ; facets on the upper two-thirds strongly 

 dilated and sharply contrasted with the small darker colored facets on the 

 lower third. Antennae dull brownish black, fairly long, and placed (in profile) 

 in a depression about half-way between the eyes and the tip of the snout ; 

 style short, as it is hardly so long as the last two annulations together of the 

 third joint, and its tip is hairlike, while the style bears near its middle about 

 two tiny side plumes. 



Thorax and scutellum shining black and rather thickly punctate ; humeri 

 with a fair-sized roundish yellow (or pale yellow) spot which is connected by 

 a narrow yellow (or pale yellow) line with the wing-base, and this line widens 

 very obviously on its hinder half, but there is not much pale coloring dowii 

 the seam between the mesopleurse and ptei-opleurae. Pubescence fairly 

 abundant and by no means short, obscurely yellowish or even brownish 

 yellow, and almost universal except on the rather large bare middle part of 

 the mesoi:)leura3. 



Abdomen shining yellowish white with (normally) the middle two-thirds 

 of the basal segment black and that colour extending about half or two-thirds 

 of the way down the middle quarter of the second segment and ending in a 

 shallow arc, while the third segment has a round black spot on its middle 

 near the foremargin, and the fourth and fifth segments are shining black 

 except rather narrowly on the hind and side margins but unequally on the 

 hindmargin of the fourth segment ; these arrangements of colour are however 

 very variable, as there may be on the third segment besides the round black 

 spot a similar spot close to each side (Brodie, July 14, 1904, in company with 

 normal specimens), while on the fourth segment the yellow hindmargin may 

 resolve itself into three long shallow spots which are scarcely connected, and 

 sometimes the black portion of the fourth segment encroaches a little on to 

 the hindmargin of the third segment as two small spots, and not at all 

 uncommonly these two spots develop and join the middle round spot which 



