196 ' FOREST ENTOMOLOGY. 



side, with a larger or smaller black-brown or black spot at the base 

 of the first segment, and becoming paler at the edges. This spot is 

 sometimes wanting ; on the other hand, the end of the body and 

 the under surface of the abdomen are somewhat light - coloured ; 

 the sheath of the ovipositor is intense black. 



"'AH the flagellum joints of the thirteen -jointed antennpe are 

 longer than thick, and become gradually a little less towards the 

 apex of the antennae; the first joint is the longest, the others prac- 

 tically agree in length ; the three-jointed club is egg-shaped, and as 

 long as the two foregoing joints taken together. The central part 

 of the face is obliquely wrinkled, the forehead longitudinally 



i5>3J 



Fig. 101. — Megastigmus spermotrophus {female). (Drawn by P. J. Brown.) 



wrinkled ; the vertex of the head, the prothorax, the mesothorax, 

 and the scutelluni are transversely wrinkled ; the post - scutellum, 

 outlined by a fine deep line, is glossy and smooth except at the base 

 and along the longitudinal middle line, where it is finely punctured ; 

 the metanotum is finely punctured, with a prominent longitudinal 

 keel in the middle, and in the case of most examples, with a trans- 

 verse ledge at the limit of its front third ; the hind margin is glossy 

 smooth, without sculpture. The face, mesonotum, all the coxte, the 

 tibise and tarsi of the fore-legs and the middle and hind legs, are 

 white haired ; the vertex of the head and the forehead, the thorax, 

 especially both sides of the furrows of the parrapsides, the scutellum 

 other than the post-scutellum, the femora of the fore-legs and the 



