726 ASILID^ 



(2-4 or even 5) preesutural, about three (3-6, but only 3 strong) supra-alar, one 

 strong (1-2 or rarely 3) postalar, and the dorso-central rows which include about 

 five fairly strong but yet rather hair-like postsutural bristles (of which the 

 prsescutellar pair are not stronger than the others), and about five less strong 

 praesutural which die out anteriorly long before the front part of the disc. 

 Pleurae covered all over with pale greyish brown dust ; mesopleurae with 

 about five black bristly hairs in a row on the upper part of the hindmargin 

 and some minute pale grey or blackish bristly pubescence on the upper part ; 

 prothorax with some soft pale pubescence ; sternopleurse with some soft pale 

 pubescence on the upper part ; metapleurae with a fan of about six (6-9) long 

 strong though thin conspicuous black bristles of which the bottom one may 

 be yellowish ; hypopleurse quite bare. Scutellum yellowish grey, flattened 

 or almost depressed and practically bare on the disc, but with about ten long 

 upturn'^d black marginal bristly hairs and some shorter thin hairs ; metano- 

 tum dark ashy grey, quite bare even on the lateral humps. 



Abdomen shining deep black or brownish black, slightly obscured by the 

 pale brownish yellow pubescence, and with each bare narrow hindmarginal 

 hem greyish white, but these greyish white bands are widened on to the disc 

 (especially when seen sideways) by whitish grey dust, and this colour extends 

 forward about the sides and covers the hinder corners of the segments and 

 extends more or less on the sidemargins up to the foremargins of the 

 segments, so that when seen sideways the entire sidemargins may be ashy 

 grey, though in some specimens the grey colour does not extend much on the 

 sides but leaves most of each segment shining brownish black. Pubescence 

 mainly or entirely greyish yellow or greyish white, rather long on the sides of 

 the three basal segments, and distinctly long about the hind corners of the 

 basal segment where a few of the hairs on the hindmargin are almost strong 

 and stout enough to be called bristles ; the pubescence on the sides of the 

 remaining segments is shorter and not always all greyish yellow, as some hairs 

 may be black at the sides and usually a good deal of the short depressed 

 pubescence on the disc is black on especially the sixth and seventh segments 

 or even on the fifth or fourth segments, though usually the pale pubescence 

 forms a slight fringe at the hindmargins and occasionally occurs all over the 

 abdomen from the base to the genitalia. Belly blackish brown to yellowish 

 grey (according to the light) with obvious pale hindmargins to the segments, 

 and bearing sparse rather thin pendent brownish yellow pubescence. 

 Genitalia shining black ; the eighth abdominal segment forms a dorsal base 

 and is produced on each side into a broad rounded triangle which leaves 

 the small intermediate part with a slightly arched or slightly undulating 

 hindmargin, and these triangles bear numerous black bristly hairs and also 

 bear on their inner sides a rather long fringe of dull black or rusty black 

 stiff hairs which point towards the tip ; claspers large and long, being about 

 twice as long as broad, arched but equal in width, and bluntly rounded on 

 the lower angle at the end but almost rectangular at their upper angle where 

 they meet for most of their width ; these claspers bear obvious suberect black 

 bristly pubescence, but at the tip where they meet the pubescence is often 

 rusty ; seen from beneath the claspers enclose an ovate (hardly longer than 

 broad) space of which the sides slope down inwards, and after this ovate space 

 a long slight shallow emargination can be traced rather before their tips, 

 and the pubescence at their tips is sometimes rather more reddish bro^vn. 



Legs rather deep black, though in immature specimens the anterior tibiae 

 and tarsi may be obscurely reddish black, and greyish dust may obscure the 

 ground colour ; coxae on the underside bare and brilliantly shining. 

 Pubescence (as distinguished from bristles) on the front femora rather 

 abundant and rather long except anteriorly, greyish white or sometimes 

 yellowish or even orange but black towards the tip, and even some of the 

 short adpressed pubescence is pale posteriorly but black elsewhere ; the 

 front tibiae bear a fair amount of black pubescence on the underside, but their 

 other clothing is described under the bristles ; middle femora with similar 

 pubescence to that on the front pair but more restricted to the underside, and 

 the middle tibiae also with similar black pubescence to that on the front 

 pair; hind femora also with greyish white pubescence beneath or rather 

 postero-ventrally, and the hind tibiae with only a slight but fairly long ciliation 



