240 SPHEGId. 



on the clypeus and sides of the face ; pronotum smooth in front, 

 its posterior margin notched ; mesonotum and median segment 

 finely transversely striate, both with a medial longitudinally 

 impressed line ; scutellum and postscutellum smooth, with indi- 

 cations of longitudinal striae ; the apex and sides of the median 

 segment with soft sparse pubescence ; abdomen smooth. The 

 typical form of this insect is black, marked with yellow, and is 

 Australian ; but the form found within our limits is dark chestnut- 

 brown ; a spot on the clypeus, the front of the scape of the antennae, 

 the posterior margin of the pronotum, a spot on the front of the 

 tegulae, the tubercles, a short oblique stripe beneath them, a trans- 

 verse spot pointed at each end on the scutellum, a spot on each 

 side on the median segment at the margin of the steep subapical 

 slope, and the apex, yellow ; the legs reddish chestnut, shaded with 

 fuscous black ; abdomen with the apical margins of segments 4-6 

 yellow ; wings light tlavo-hyaline, uervures and tegulae testaceous 

 yellow, the apex of the wings fuscescent. 



Var. The median segment without the subapical spots, sometimes 

 also without the basal spots. 



Hah. Australia ; China ; Sikhim ; North- West Provinces of 

 India ; Burma ; Tenasserim. $ c? • Length 18-21 ; exp. 28-30 mm. 



453. Sceliphron violaceum. (PI. I, fig. 8.) 

 Sphex violacea, Fabr. Ent. Si/st. ii, p. 201. 

 Pepsis violacea, Fabr. Syst. Fiez. p. 211. 

 Chalybion violaceum, Dahlb. Hym. Eur. \, p. 21. 

 Chalybion bengalensis, Dahlh. Hym. Eur. i, p. 433. 

 Pelopoeus violaceiis, Lepel. Hym. iii, p. 321. 

 Pelopoeus flebelis, Lepel. Hym. iii, p. 321. 



Pelopoeus bengalensis, Smith, Cat. iv, p. 230 ; Home, Trans. Zool. 

 Soc. vii, p. 163, pi. xxi, figs. 2, 2 a. 



2 . Head punctured ; the clypeus, front of the face, and cheeks 

 behind the eyes densely pubescent, a short perpendicular carina on 

 the front between the antennae ; thorax slightly pubescent, shining ; 

 the pi'O- and mesonotum closely punctured ; the punctures on the 

 latter, in some specimens, running into transverse striae, the former 

 bituberculate ; the median segment long, convex, transversely striate 

 in some, and only closely punctured in other specimens, the sides 

 above with more or less of a broad shallow longitudinal furrow ; 

 petiole and abdomen brilliantly polished, smooth and shining. 

 Deep glistening cobalt-blue, the pubescence silvery white, the 

 apical ten joints of the flagellum of the antennae and the tarsi 

 opaque black ; wings hyaline, and from merely fuscescent along 

 the apical margin to dark fusco-violaceous on the apical half or 

 two-thirds. 



S similar, but slighter, with a longer petiole. 



Hah. Southern and Eastern Europe ; Northern Africa ; India ; 

 Burma ; Tenasserim ; Ceylon ; China ; Japan ; and the Malayan and 

 Australian subregions to Java and the Philippines. 5 . Length 

 15-19 ; exp. 26-32 mm. d • Length 11-16; exp. 22-28 ram. 



