BY AUTHUR WHITE. 85 



Laphria comata, Sp. nov 

 Face bearing long white hairs ; moustache black ; thorax 

 £reenish-black ; abdomen blue-black ; anterior femora en- 

 tirely blue-black ; middle femora with basal half yellow, 

 apical half blue-black ; posterior femora with basal two- 

 thirdii vellow, apical third blue-black ; all tibije blue-black ; 

 wings brownish, darkest at the tips, and with the base 

 hyaline. 



Leiif/tli. Male, 16 mm. 



Jlah. Victoria. 



Male. Face bearing long white hairs; moustache 

 black, large and bushy ; beard white. Front black. An- 

 tennae black, the first joint twice the length of the second, 

 the third considerably broadened, and about one-and-a- 

 half times the length of the first two together ; the first 

 and second joints bear long black hairs. Thorax shining 

 greenish-black, with whitish shoulder s]jots, abundant 

 black pubescence, and black lateral bristles ; scutellum 

 similarly coloured to the thorax, with six long, semi-erect, 

 black marginal hair-like bristles. Abdomen slender, shin- 

 ing blue-black, with white lateral spots and white lateral 

 pubescence; genitalia with stiff black hairs. Legs with 

 anterior femora wholly blue-black, middle femora with 

 basal half yellow, apical half blue-black; posterior femora 

 with basal two-thirds, yellow, apical third blue-black ; al! 

 tibia? blue-black ; tarsi black; the femora bear abundant 

 long pubescence, which is yellow on the yellow parts, 

 black on the black parts; tibia? with long white and black 

 pubescence, and also black bristles ; tarsi with black 

 bristles. Wings brownish, darkest at the tips, and with 

 the base hvaline; the fli-st posterior cell is much contract- 

 ed on the wing-margin, the fourth posterior and anal colls 

 closed ; halteres yellow. 



This species is distinguished bv the colouring of the 

 femora. It resembles both L. teJerJex and L. riififcinnratn, 

 but is distinguished from the former species by having 

 both the middle and posterior femora partly yellow, 

 whereas in //. telerle.t only the posterior pair are partly 

 yellow, and from L. rufifemnrata by the anterior femora 

 being entirely black, instead of, as in that species, all the 

 femora being partly yellow. L. rnmnfa is further distin- 

 guished from both these species by the marginal bristles 

 of the scutellum being black instead of yellowish, and by 

 their being fewer in number, sti.fer, and more erect, also 

 by the strong bristles of the tibiae. 



This species is at present only known from a single 

 Victorian specimen, kindly given me by Mr. C. French, 

 Jun. 



