238 Records of the Indian Museum. (Vor. XI, 
if zndica should have wholly black hind femora there can be little 
doubt of its identity with orientalis, Macq., the former name 
taking priority.! 
This form ortentalis (I call it so until the synonymy is 
established) is quite a good one and is mainly distinguished by 
the wholly black hind femora. 
Dr. Meijere sinks Senogaster lutescens, Dol., as synonymous, 
whilst laticincta, Big., nom. nud., in the Indian Museum from 
Karachi and Calcutta, is certainly so; moreover illucida, Walk., 
from Celebes is likely to be also identical, the expression ‘‘ vertex 
black with an elongated white point on each side’’ reading as 
though reference was made to the small portion of the whitish 
grey occiput visible on each side from above. 
S. amboinensis, Dol., from Amboina may or may not be dis- 
tinct; the anterior legs are obscurely ringed, which may mean 
anything, and as occasional specimens of both pipiens and orientalis 
have a dark streak on the anterior femora, it may be only a 
variety of the latter. 
The form rufifacies, Big., is as well marked as orientalis and is 
distinguished by its bright reddish orange hind femora, the apical 
third being black. Though Dr. Meijere records it as synonymous 
with orientalis, the form is as distinct as that one, several of each 
sex in the Indian Museum answering exactly to Bigot’s descrip- 
tion. I have taken it myself at Agra, 4-iv-05. 
There are, however, 2 7 @ in the Museum collection which 
appear intermediate between orientalis and rufifacies, and which 
may break down the barrier between them. These have dark 
brown or reddish brown femora and one has the tips more or less 
darker still. I have one in my own collection taken by me at 
Agra. 
The abdominal markings are but a slight guide, as in both 
orientalis and rufifacies the pairs of spots on the 2nd and 3rd seg- 
ments” are sometimes quite separate and sometimes merged 
into a transverse band. This happens with each pair of spots 
independently of one another and is equally variable in both 
forms, 
There appears to be no other character offering any solution 
of the number of forms existing. 
At present my own opinion is towards the following synony- 
my, regarding them taxonomically as forms only, except pipiens 
and my supposed indica of Wiedemann. 
| There is certainly the possibility that zdica may be simply pipiens after 
all, but it is hardly to be supposed that Wiedemann would not have recognized it 
as such, although probably in those days species were not thought to have so 
wide a distribution. 
% Macquart speaks of the spots on the second segment being united into a 
band, but as it is more usually those on the third segment which are contiguous, 
I think he must have overlooked the very short 1st segment and was really refer- 
ring to the 3rd segment. 
