﻿On the Bombi/lii(J Favna of Sonfh Africa {Dictera). 39 



hairs, a less distinct one in front and a niucli broadei' one on the meso- 

 pleura, extending to the breast ; nietapleural tuft very dense and of a 

 reddish bi-own colour ; the notopleural and supraocellar bristles are 

 yellow and long, cMefly tlie latter ones. Scutellum broad, reddish 

 brown, black at base, and, on the hind border, clothed like the thorax 

 and with strong yellow bristles on the hind border. Squamae 

 yellowish brown, with a dense and long white fringe ; haltères with 

 bi'own knob and whitish end. Abdomen broad, obtuse, rather shining 

 black, narrowly I'ed on the sides in tlie male, in Avhich sex it is void 

 of bristles, clothed with rather short, dense and soft, equal hairs, Avhich,. 

 viewed from behind, are of a light yellowish colour, and viewed from 

 the front are whitish with a silvery sheen ; in the female the hairs are 

 of a darker colour, and at the hind border of the segments there are 

 short but strong brownish bristles disposed in many rows, but inter- 

 rupted in the middle. The venter in the male is yelloAv towards the 

 middle, while in the female it is entirely black, clothed in both from 

 the base to the middle with silky hairs, and fi-om the middle to the 

 end with dark hairs. Male genitalia proportionally small, hidden, of 

 a dark colour ; anal tuft of the female reddish. Legs rather stout but 

 long, wholly of a reddish yellow colour, the hairs only being blackened 

 at end ; they have pale yellowish, little-developed scales, and numerous 

 black spines, but they are almost absolutely l>are, even the front 

 femora being destitute of hairs underneath at base ; the spicules are 

 well developed and numerous, but short in the front tibiae. All the 

 femora are spinose beneath, even those of the front pair being pro- 

 vided with many short spines, disposed in two rows ; spines of the 

 hind femora very numerous underneath, 13-14 in numl)er, extending 

 from the base to the end, but those of the minor row are very short, the 

 row of the upper side being 2-3 apical spines. Claws long and thin, 

 black with reddish base ; pulvilli whitish, very small, as long as half 

 the claws. Wings long and narrow (length of awing 16 mm., breadth 

 of a wing 5 mm.) ; basal comb very strong and black, whitish yellow, 

 pilose at base, with reddish sheen on the bristles in the male ; they 

 are greyish yellow, faintly infuscated at base and along the fore border 

 to the end of the first vein, the brown yellowish tint running obliquely 

 across the cross-veins to the middle of the anal cell, but without being 

 well defined. Alula infuscated, with a short yellowish fringe. The 

 veins are red, infuscated at end ; the second longitudinal vein is 

 strongly sinuous ; the first posterior cell is long and narrow, narrower 

 than the discoidal cell, which is rather obtuse at end, but not in such 

 a manner as in Anastoechus ; second and third posterior cells of equal 

 length, but the former much broader at end. 



