13. DIOCTRIA 



729 



moutli-beard which droops over the mouth ; sides of the mouth Ijare ; jowls very- 

 small and bare ; frons deeply sunk between the eyes, usually shining black and 

 bare, but in some species bristly on the orbits down to or almost beyond the 

 antennae ; occllar knob strongly elevated and bearing short fine pubescence ; back of 

 the head nearly Hat and bearing numerous long hairs which are rather thin and 

 almost shaggy or at any rate less bristly on the lower part, but which usually become 

 strong and bristly as they ascend the head and sometimes even form a festoon of 

 bristles against the upper part of the eyes, with the jioints of the hairs or bristles 

 bent forwards ; collar sometimes bearing some bristly hairs which are however 

 sometimes slight and restricted to the front or side parts. Proboscis produced 

 horizontally and bearing beneath its base a few long thin hairs ; palpi more or less 

 elongate and thin, and (when long) bearing long projecting bristles. Antennae 

 longer than the head, placed on a more or less raised antennal prominence ; basal 

 joint elongate cylindrical ; second joint shorter and more cup-shaped ; the two basal 

 joints bearing bristly pubescence ; third joint longest, and often with a few small 

 bristles on its upper margin just before the middle ; style obvious, rather long, 

 stout, and blunt (iig. 398). 



Thorax oval, usually bearing dense tomentum in stripes or patches on which 

 there is a slight pubescence but sometimes entirely shining, sometimes clothed all 



Fig. 398. — Dioctria Iteinhardi (J. x 22. 



Fio. 399.— Dioctria rufipcs (J. x 12. 



over with short dense bristly pubescence and occasionally Avith a, few longer bristly 

 hairs, and with a few lateral bristles which are sometimes very indistinct (especially 

 when the pubescence is more abundant than usual) ; the dorso-central bristles are 

 absent but there are three rows of tiny bristles on the disc and some tiny bristles on 

 the front part which spread outwards towards the humeri, while others may occur on 

 the sides above the dorso-pleural suture ; the bristles consist of one (or rarely two) 

 praesutural and a row of about four (2-4) supra-alar ; about three small bristles may 

 occur on the front margin of the postalar calli but are often so small as to_ be easily 

 overlooked ; pleurae usually (not in D. Reinhardi) with peculiar slanting shimmering 

 stripes of pale (silvery or golden) tomentum, of which the most conspicuous one 

 runs down the front margin of the raesopleuriB and sternopleura^, while another one 

 runs down the hindmargin of the mesopleurae on to the space under the pteropleurte, 

 and the upper and hind margins of the mesopleurae (and sometimes the front margin 

 broadly of the stcrnopleurai) bear fine pubescence, but otherwise the pleurte are 

 mainly without distinct pubescence or bristles except for the metapleural fan of 

 long bristles or bristly hairs and other pubescence on the metapleurae ; prothorax 

 bristly or pubescent. 8cutellum flattened on the disc, and bearing tomentum and 

 pubescence similar to but less than that on the disc of the thorax, and sometimes 

 with a slight marginal fringe but with no marginal bristles. 



Abdomen elongated, narrowly cylindrical, almost without pubescence and with- 

 out any bristles except for the long bristly ciliation on the hindmargin of the_ basal 

 segment at especially its hind corners. Genitalia small, rather curved back in the 

 male under a termino-dorsal plate, but in the female almost concealed under the 

 truncate end segment. 



