POLVSPIIIXCTA. 



207 



and neither their ei^gs nor their wehs, whirh aiv att.-icked bv 

 Polyspliincta. 



1 cannot pretend to describe the insect Hgiired bv Green 

 (' Science Gossip,' 1888, p. 160, § ), since it is evideiitl}' distinct 

 from that brought forward by Ashmead, and appears from its 

 neuration to belong to Acrodacij/la, tliougli it lias been referred 

 to Fiirster's subgenus Zatiipota (' Insect Life,' 1895, p. 27U). 

 This figure represents the iuiago magnified, thus described : — 

 •' Colour black ; a reddish patch upon the thorax ; scutellum and 

 attachment of wings yellowish. Antenna? multiarticulate. basal 

 joint reddish. Legs yellowish, tarsi of hind pair and terminal 

 joints of first and second pairs blackish. Wings covered with 

 minute hairs. Segments of abdomen with symmetrical rounded 

 prominences." 



Length .5 millim. ; expanse dk millim. 



It api)ears to be connnon in Ceylon, wliere " tlie spider usuallv 

 attacked" is said by Dr. Marx to belong to the genus C'/n-isso. 

 Camb. ; and the females alone fall A'ictims on account of their 

 larger size. " The egg is fixed to the abdomen of the spider close 

 to its junction with the cephalothorax."' The larva occupies 

 forty-eight hours in cocoon-sj)inning, after devouring the spider. 



But one Indian species has yet been described. 



143. Polysphincta ceylonica, Ashm. 



Poh/spJiincta cexjlonica. Asbmead. Proe. l.S. Xat. Mas. 1800 p 64."3 



5. Black, glabrous, and strongly nitidulous. Head: palpi 

 and mandibles wliite. Antenna'-, scape red beneath. Thora.r : 



mesopleurae red ; metanotum 

 longitudinally bicarinate in the 

 centre. ScuteJhnu red. Lerj.s 

 white, with a spot at apices "of 

 the hind tibia; and their tarsi, 

 except the first joint towards its 

 base, infuscate. Il77iy/s hyaline; 

 tegula? white ; stigma and ner- 

 vures piceous. 



Lenrjth 4 millim. {Ashuiead). 



I may add that the meso- 



sternum is also dull ruFescent, 



the scutellum unusually convex, 



the anteiunc strongly pilose, the 



basal segment but sHghrlv longer 



than apif>ally broad and strongly 



bicarinate discally throughout". 



with the folloA\ing segments 



crenulately trans-impressed before their elevated apices, the hind 



tiblje are not always apically infuscate, and the distinct! v retlexed 



and pilose terebra is shorter than the basal segment. 



Fig. 4,^. 



Fof//sp/iuictC( crj/lo/iica, Aslitii. 



