1. XYLOPHAGUS 253 



black on the large callus above tbe antennae which extends from eye to eye, 

 and dullish black on the upper part but shining about the ocellar space ; 

 frons much broader than in X. ater and with almost parallel sides ; face 

 very distinct from X. ater, deep black and brilliantly shining, very short, 

 being about one-third the length of the frons, nearly as wide as the front part 

 of the frons {i.e. nearly a quarter the width of the head), and with a con- 

 spicuous large silvery white broad triangle at the top of each side, and these 

 white triangles extend narrowly past the outside of the antennae to the lower 

 corners of the frons ; back of the head more puffed out and rounded out 

 considerably from the eyes, dull black, and bearing on the lower part a long 

 (longer than in X. ater) dense whisker-like whitish grey pubescence, while 

 higher up (on the middle part of the back of the head) there is a very sparse 

 row of postocular bristly hairs which die out on the upper part, and on the back 

 of the head right away from the eyes there are numerous black or grey hairs. 

 Proboscis yellowish ; palpi dull deep black even to the base where there is 

 a little tuft of pale hairs, much larger than in X. ater, and much more 

 produced. Eyes in profile more circular ; front facets inconspicuously larger 

 than the others. Antennae (fig. 181) dull black, placed on a small prominence 

 and about as long as the head ; basal joint stout, little longer than broad ; 

 second joint transverse, hardly half so long as the first; two basal joints 

 bearing numerous minute black bristles ; third joint hardly twice as long 

 as the two basal joints together, and with eight crowded annulations. 



Thorax all dull greyish black except on the shining black humeri and on 

 the paler grey stripes ; when viewed from in front there are three narrow grey 

 lines rather close together running down the middle of the disc and also 

 traces of grey side-lines, and the two resulting greyish black middle lines 

 coalesce after the suture and run on to the hindmargin as one rather broad 

 dark black middle stripe, and the black stripe after the suture is margined 

 outside by two rather broad ashy grey stripes ; when viewed from behind, 

 the middle quarter of the praesutural part of the disc a]ipears as an eqvial 

 light ashy grey stripe with a narrow dividing black line, and (when viewed 

 from above) there are light grey lines outside the postsutural broad black 

 middle stripe, and the space between them and the sides is greyish black, but 

 when tilted still more (so as to view the thorax in almost a horizontal line 

 from behind) there is (behind the suture) a broad light grey middle stripe 

 margined by two rather narrow black stripes outside which the thorax is 

 greyish and only indistinctly striped ; pubescence on the dorsum of the 

 thorax composed of equal short very sparse greyish white sloping hairs 

 which become rather more obvious on the back part ; pleurae rather greyish 

 black, but brightly shining black on the mesopleurae, and with rather con- 

 spicuous i^ale pubescence on the prothorax. Scutellum dull greyish black, 

 but brownish at the sides and on the ridges running outwards from them and 

 on the part of the thorax adjoining them ; metanotum greyish black and both 

 it and the scutellum bearing rather conspicuous thin whitish grey pubescence. 



Abdomen very similar to that of X. ater. Genitalia much larger, with the 

 upper side-plates more shining, and possibly without any orange processes. 



Legs dull reddish orange ; hind coxae blackish grey at the base ; hind 

 femora scarcely darkened at the tip, but the hind tibiae rather dark and 

 with a faint broad darkened ring just after the base ; all the tarsi blackish on 

 about the last two joints ; pubescence on the long front coxae conspicuously 

 whitish, almost dense ; spurs dull orange. 



Wings very similar to those of X. ater ; rather smoky, but slightly orange 

 aliout the base and with an obvious cloud across the middle, and usually with 

 the end veins of the discal cell clouded, or the wings may be still more 

 clouded ; stem of the cubital fork shorter than in X. ater, being usually as 

 long as the lower branch of the fork. Squamae (alar) dull glassy yellowish, 

 with a delicate long pale fringe near the angle. Halteres orange or reddish 

 orange. 



9 . Much larger than the male and not very similar to it. Frons at the vertex 

 fully one-third the width of the head, and the eyes almost equally separated 

 from the vertex to the mouth ; frons entirely grey on more than the upper 

 half (except on the shining black ocellar triangle) but brilliantly shining 



