74 STI1PHID.T:. 



wiug-base ; pleurae ash-fi;rey with whitish pubescence ; hind corners of 

 dorsum dull translucent j^ellow with yellow pubescence. Scutellum 

 dull translucent yellow ; pubescence yellow on basal half and black 

 on the remainder. Abdomen dull indigo-black ; 1st segment 

 shining seneous ; on 2nd segment a pair of very elongate-triangular 

 yellow spots across middle of segment, their apices sometimes 

 well separated on middle line, sometimes bluntly united, forming 

 a complete transverse band ; their bases near but never reaching 

 side margins of segment ; 3rd segment with a rather broad orange 

 band, widening a little towards sides and just reaching side 

 margins, sometimes narrowly so on anterior corners, sometimes 

 quite broadly ; 4th segment with a similar band which is yellowish- 

 grey or wholly greyish, much less conspicuous than tliat of 3rd seg- 

 mentand generally fainter in centre, widening towards and reaching 

 side margins, though indistinctly ; hind margin of 2nd segment 

 often extremely narrowly orange, of 4th segment often more 

 aeneous ; 5th segment generally shining aeneous. Pubescence of 

 abdomen yellowish on pale parts and wholly on 2nd segment ; 

 black parts with black pubescence, but with some straggling pale 

 hairs intermixed : pubescence on side margins of abdomen yelloM ish 

 on front half or two-thirds of each segment, but black on hinder 

 part. Venter blackish with indistinct pale bands corresponding to 

 those of upper side. lu $ , 1st band normally entire, sometimes 

 barely narrowed in middle, sometimes interrupted more broadly in 

 middle, the yellow colour replaced at that spot by an aeneous tinge. 

 Bands in $ always wider than in d" , in some individuals the 

 2nd band nearly filling the segment, giving the appearance of a 

 distinct species. In some specimens of both sexes the abdominal 

 bands are very narrow, the spots on the 2nd segment equally so 

 and widely separated, all these markings being bluish-grey or 

 plumbeous. Leg^ brownish-orange ; nearly all the basal half of 

 anterior femora, hind femora wholly except at tips, an indistinct 

 narrow median ring on anterior tibiae and a broader one on hind 

 tibiae, also all tarsi, black. The black marks in some specimens 

 much less conspicuous or replaced by brown ones ; sometimes the 

 legs scarcely dark ; and the tarsi sometimes at most bi'own instead 

 of black. The black colour generally less extensive in 5 ? as the 

 anterior tibiae in this sex are sometimes wholly browish-orange. 

 Wings clear; stigma pale brownish-yellow; halteres dull 

 yellowish. 



Lem/th, 7-10 mm. 



Described from a number of both sexes in the Indian Museum 

 and Pitsa collections. Mussoorie, ix. 1906 ; Kumaon, 5000 ft., 

 10-12. ix. 1909 (Lytich); 6000 ft., 21-26. viii. 1918 (Fletcher); 

 Almora, 5500 ft., 22-26. ix. 1911 {Paiva)-, Murree, 7500 ft., 18. vi. 

 (Dutt); Soondrijal, Nepal ; Nagorkote, Nepal; Singla, Darjiliug 

 District, 1500 ft., iv. 1913; Lebong, Darjiling District, 4500 ft., 

 2-9. V. 1909 {Howlett) ; ( jhapra, Bengal (Mackenzie) ; Pusa, 

 19. ii. 1908, " reared from maggot predaceous on Aphis cardui" ; 

 5. iii.1911, on Kusum ; 12. iii. 1909, on grass; Coorg, S. India, 



