.1 Monograph of Egyplian Diplcra. 61 



"blackisli-brciwn with just the hase and tlie tip of the femora and 

 "the basai third of tha tibias reddish-orange. Pnbescence behind 

 "Ihe femora not scarce, black on the anterior femora but pale 

 'near the base in pale spécimens, on the hind femora pale yellow 

 "heneath and in f lont ; the tiny bristles on the hind legs are ail 

 ■'black about the tip of the femora and on ail ths tibipe except the 

 "usual yellow patch inside the hind pair about the tip." 



"Wings pellucid, subcostal cell and stigma distinctly brown- 

 "ish. Squamse duU yellow, with brownish orange margins. Haltères 

 "brownish yellow."' 



Female:—"^\m\\'àv; frons glittering blue-black at the vertex, 

 "thcn ail covered with yellow dust but sometimes with an in- 

 'distinct middle black line Connecting the vertex with a large shin- 

 "ing space above the antennae which space ranges from shestnut 

 "to black; the pubescence of the frons is ail black, but on the face 

 "it is ail pale, and there is scarcely any dark middle line, while it 

 "is ail orange right away to the jowls; the hairs on the back of 

 "the head are dense and conspicuously white, but yellow on the 

 "up23er part; the pubescence on the thorax is short, but on the 

 "scutellum short on the dise only, the hairs round the margin being 

 "fairly long. Legs very variable as in the maie, from a normal 

 "form which would hâve them ail dull orange except for a black 

 "ring about the middle of the hind femora, to spécimens in which 

 "this ring is considerably extended and the hind tibias and tarsi 

 "hecome almost ail blackish, and even until the front femora be- 

 "come extensively darkened." 



"Lenglh about 10 mm." 



"Mr. G.C. liigucU bied it frL>m larvaî which fcd on A/ilih 

 "in-ioui, and S. auricollh seems to be the main species to bc stored 

 "up by Crabro varus to provide food for its larvse, as in its luir- 

 "i-ows there OLcur masses of S. aiiricoUis (4 maies, 3 females) with 

 "their hsads ail ])ointing in one direction, while a pair of -S'. 

 "balteatus ocuiirred in company." 



Hère again I only posses a single spécimen of this interesting 

 species and therefore I can do nothing better than give VerralTs 

 description of it above in détail. This individual, a female, was 

 caught in my garden at Shoubra on Deoember 20th. 1921, wherc 

 it was resting on a rose shrub. My spécimen reems to agiee with 

 :he darkest forms of this extremely variable species, mentioned 

 by Verrall and its dark central knob, blackish antennae and arista, 

 very dark abdomen with its very obscurely luteous spots (Plate I 

 fig. 4), and its remarkably blackish legs makes it almost identical 

 with Rondani's S. nigritihius. 



