650 ASILID.E 



This genus was suggested by Loew in 1849 for a single North European 

 species and consequently the limits of the generic characters are rather 

 uncertain. The conical, by no means laterally com.pressed, ovipositor and 

 the absence of any hindmarginal bristles on the abdominal segments seem 

 to ally it to Famponerus or Asilus, but its small size and dark coloring 

 differentiate it strongly from them ; the shining black face distinguishes 

 it from any other European species of the Asilince, while Fhilonicus, 

 Dt/smachi/s, Eutolmus, and Machimus of the British genera all possess 

 obvious hindmarginal bristles on at least the sides of the abdominal 

 segments, and if any doubt should arise about Neoitamus that genus may 

 be known by the mainly bright orange tibiae and bare dark thoracic stripes, 

 while Epitriptus has conspicuous irregular orange markings on the legs 

 and is a yellowish grey species ; Neoitamus and Eintriptus are easily dis- 

 tinguished in the female sex by the compressed ovipositor. 



Synonymy. — Altliough two or more species have been described since its 

 establishment as belonging to this genus I am unable to give any further 

 particulars about it, and no suggestion has ever been made for its submergence 

 into any of the allied- genera (or subgenera). R. levcojjogon Williston from North 

 America cannot possibly (according to its description) belong to it, but there is 

 a reported South Asiatic species. 



1. R. variabilis Zetterstedt. Face shining black. Legs black, with 

 the tibiae and tarsi partly dull red. 



A rather small blackish species, with the face and frons 

 shining black and the legs partly dull reddish. 



$ . Face shining black on the bare upper third, but with distinct yellowish 

 white tomentum on the upper two-thirds of the rather well defined eye- 

 margins, and in some lights with comparatively sparse whitish tomentum 

 extending over the face-knob ; face-knob of medium size but well elevated 

 and bearing the face-beard which is mainly black but whitish below on the 

 middle part only, as the black bristly hairs extend down outside the whitish 

 hairs and along the sides of the mouth ; chin and jowl beards long and snowy 

 white ; back of the head with rather long Avhitish sparse pubescence and with 

 a postocular festoon on the upper third of about ten (8-12) stout black bristles, 

 which dip away from the vertex, and of which only a few bend over forwards 

 at the tip ; frons moderately shining black, but with a little ferruginous or 

 grey dust about the sides, deeply sunk between the eyes and with the ocellar 

 knob correspondingly elevated, hardly widening out at the upper eye-angles ; 

 bristles on the ocellar knob and on the sides of the frons black, moderate in 

 length and rather thin. Proboscis shining black, nearly horizontal, and bearing 

 the usual short pale pubescence at the tip and the usual long hairs beneath 

 on the basal half ; palpi short, black, and bearing black bristles. Antennae 

 normal in shape ; two basal joints with the usual short black bristles (longest 

 on the underside of the basal joint); style with an obvious short basal joint, 

 not quite so long as the third joint and scarcely placed at an angle to it. 



Thorax dark ashy grey ; middle stripe distinct, rather broadened anteriorly 

 but contracted after the suture until almost reduced to a point or two points 

 about half-way between the suture and the hindmargin or continued narrowly 

 thence to the hindmargin, and this middle strii:»e is split by a narrow dark 

 grey line ; side stripes composed of three somewhat variable spots, of which 

 oi'dinarily the front one (level with the humeri) is small and sometimes indis- 

 tinct, the next one large and occurring just in front of the suture and Avith its 

 lower end extending iuAvards, and the third one (immediately after the suture) 

 outwardly nearly as large as the previous one but not extending half-way to the 

 hindmargin ; after that and on the inner side of the last pair of spots are the usual 



