338 syepridjE. 



and fits closely to those on tlie steruopleura and mesopleura. 

 8cutelluin yellow, with basal part blackish ; the blackish area 

 varies in extent from a very narrow basal portion to the greater 

 part of the surface. Abdomen bright reddish-brown ; 1st segment 

 very narrowly yellow at base ; 2nd very nari^ow for three-fourths 

 of its length ; its hind margin has a distiuct yellow band : 3rd 

 segment with a yellow band on the hind niargin, this band widen- 

 ing towards the sides and narrowing again just before the extreme 

 side margins of the dorsum ; 4th segment narrowly brown at 

 base, remainder yellow-dusted with a distinct yellow hind margin, 

 which spreads forward up either side of the segment as a large spot, 

 leaving the extreme side margin wholly clear ; 5th segment very 

 small, yellow-dusted. Legs brownish-orange ; front femOra with 

 a long pale lemon-yellow streak below ; hind femora pale lemon- 

 yellow on basal half. Wim/s yellowish-grey, deeper brownish- 

 yellow on anterior half down to about the spurious vein ; tips of 

 2nd and 3rd veins, including the loop of the latter, distinctly and 

 rather broadly suffused with dark brown. Halteres yellow. 



Length, 15-20 mm. 



Described originally from Northern India. The present de- 

 scription is drawn up mainly from two § $ in the Pusa collection 

 from Kohat, North- West Frontier Province, 7. v. 1916 {Fletcher), 

 two $ 2 fi'oiw Matheran, Bombay Presidency, iii & v. 1899 (Nurse), 

 and one $ from Chapra, Bengal {Machenzie). This species occurs 

 also at Calcutta; at Abbottabad, Hazara District, 21. v. 1915 

 (Fletcher); and in Northern Bengal (Saunders Collection). 



Saunders's type, in the British Museum and in excellent pre- 

 sei'vation, agrees closely with the above-described specimens. 



266. Ceria obscura, Brun. 



Ceria obscura, Brunetti, Rec. Ind. Mus. ii, p. 94 (1908) ; i, pi. xiii, 

 fig. 12, full insect (1907); de Meijere, Tijd. v. Ent. li, p. 196, 

 pi. vii, tigs. 3, head, 4, first posterior cell (1908). 



c? 2 . Head : in c? , frons and face pale yellow, marked with a 

 large black cross, composed of a broad longitudinal stripe extend- 

 ing from upper corner of frons practically to mouth-border, and 

 of a transverse, rather angulated band reaching from eye to eye 

 just below the base of the antennal stem. Antennae black, with 

 joints subequal, and the stem a little longer than the 1st joint. 

 In 5 , frons and vertex wholly black, with a thin yellow V-shaped 

 mark below the antennae. Thorax dull black, humeral calli 

 tawny ; scutellum black, the posterior edge narrowly yellow. 

 Abdomen black ; basal three-fourths of the contracted 2nd seg- 

 ment brown ; posterior borders of 2nd and 3rd segments narrowl}^ 

 jrellow ; 4th with a distinctly wider black border ; 5th black, 

 small. Legs all dark brown, the outer sides of the tarsi with a 

 little grey pubescence. Wings grey, dark brown from the costal 

 border; the latter colour extends over both basal cells and to 



