204 STRATIOMYID.E 



blacker green than the scutellum, and the two middle pairs longer than the 

 outer pair. 



Abdomen deep dull black, slightly shining on the sides and about the tip ; 

 pubescence on the disc very minute and inconspicuous but long and obviously 

 pale yellowish grey or brownish yellow all down the sidemargins, including 

 the sixth and even seventh segments (and thereby distinguished from B. 

 chalyheata). Belly glittering brownish black, with short depressed greyish- 

 yellow pubescence all over. Genitalia small, beginning above "with a shining 

 black basal plate from which a pair of blackish-brown elongate ovate lamellae 

 (which bear pale pubescence) project, while a pair of longer brownish-orange 

 lamellae curve u]i from the base beneath, and between these on the under 

 side is a simple shining blackish-brown triangular middle piece. 



Legs shining black, with the knees usually obviously but sometimes 

 narrowly, and the anterior ankles narrowly, yellowish ; the knees include just 

 the tip of the femora and the base of the tibiae for a rather indeterminate 

 amount, but ordinarily for about half the front tibiae, two-fifths or less of the 

 middle tibiae, and sometimes only just the base or at most a quarter of the 

 hind tibiae ; trochanters rather brownish ; hind tarsi with the basal joint 

 extra long and quite equally dilated (except at just the base and tip), very 

 distinctly longer than the other four joints together, but hardly twice as deep. 

 Pubescence on all the femora all yellowish and not scarce, but the ciliation on 

 the inner side of the hind tibiae may be a little darker. 



Wings with a very strong smoky blackish-brown tinge but with the costal 

 cell lighter, light brownish but not at all yellowish at the base, and sometimes 

 the wings blackish with no brownish tinge and the pale base more contrasted. 

 Alar squamae smoky yellowish brown with greyish-yellow fringes ; thoracal 

 squamae existing only as a brown line. Halteres with the stem brown, but the 

 knob distinctly orange or dark orange. 



? . Rather similar to the male. Frons (fig. 147) not one-quarter the width of the 

 head at the vertex, and thence very gradually but distinctly widening down 



to the antennae, after which the face gradually widens 

 down to the mouth where it is less than half but more 

 than one-third the width of the head ; frons shining 

 black with a purplish tinge, and bearing fairly dense 

 though inconspicuous short pale pubescence ; face also 

 shining black and bearing all over a similar though 

 slightly longer pubescence ; back of the head behind the 

 eyes very little inflated on the upper part, and bearing 

 rather abundant depressed short grey pubescence which 

 colours the upper part close to the eyes. Eyes with 

 very short but not very scarce pubescence. Antennae 

 Fig. 147.— iJcns (fig. ]47) longer than the head, and sometimes rather 



gemcniata 9. x 20. ferrugiuous Up to the end of the basal segment of the 

 flagellum ; flagellum quite two and a half times as 

 long as the two basal joints together and tapering to almost a point. 



Thorax and scutellum bright dark green, with the front points of the 

 humeri orange and the ridge of the postalar calli often brownish orange. 

 Pubescence short, pale, and rather decumbent on the thorax, but sparse and 

 erect on the scutellum. 



Abdomen shining dark brownish black, with very short inconspicuous pale 

 grey depressed pubescence on the disc, but longer more conspicuous erect 

 almost whitish pubescence on the sidemargins and basal corners ; tip usually 

 brownish orange with an extending pair of two-jointed lamellae, of Avhich the 

 stouter basal joint is usually orange and the elongate second joint dark brown 

 and liubescent. 



Legs more orange at the knees and base of the tibiae, there being usually 

 about two-fifths of the anterior tibiae and one-fifth of the hind tibiae orange, 

 while the trochanters, ankles, and basal half of the posterior femora may be 

 inconspicuously brownish ; basal joint of the hind tarsi not dilated but still 

 longer than the other four joints together. Pubescence very short and 

 inconspicuous except for the yellowish ciliation down the inside of the hind 

 tibiae 



