HYMENOPTERA. 55 



more narrowed towards the apex ; the part occupied by it is raised and reaches near to 

 the antennae, where it is prolonged as a short, stout keel ; from the junction of the two 

 parts a curved keel runs to the eye incision. The lower part of the eye incision, the 

 face and clypeus are covered with silvery pubescence. Pro- and mesothorax smooth and 

 shining. The base of the median segment bears stout, longitudinal keels, the two central 

 of which are more widely separated ; the rest of the segment is stoutly, irregularly, 

 transversely striated ; the basal half has two longitudinal keels which form a central area, 

 rounded at the apex ; there are two longitudinal keels on the apical slope, which unite 

 near the apex of the segment, this second area being more sharply pointed at the apex 

 than the basal one. On the base of the mesopleurae is a wide, deep, crenulated furrow, 

 bisected above by a smooth, curved one. Legs black, the tarsi testaceous, darker at the 

 base. Wings hj'aline, the nervures fuscous. Abdomen entirely black. 



Fam. Scoliidae. 



7. Elis thoracica Fab. 



This family is represented only by the above, a common Eastern species. Its </ has 

 not yet been described with any degree of certainty (cf Saussure, Catalogus Specieruni 

 generis Scolia, p. 188, and Bingham, Fauna of Brit. India, Hymen, p. 99) but, in the 

 collection, there are some males which can only be connected with thoracica. They are 

 densely covered with longish cinereous pubescence : the sides of the clypeus broadly from 

 top to bottom, the apex of the pronotum, the yellow extending laterally to near the 

 tegulae, two broad marks on the base of the scutellum and a mark on the centre of the 

 post-scutellum, yellow. The hair on the median segment is denser than on the rest of 

 the thorax ; the oblique furrow on the flat apical half of the mesopleurae is distinct. The 

 wings are hyaline, violaceous in tint at the apex ; the radial cellules smoky. Legs black ; 

 the apex of all the femora, the outer side of the tibiae and of the base of the front 

 tarsi yellow. Abdomen violaceous-black ; the basal three segments above have the apices 

 broadly yellow ; the black dorsal parts are dilated in the middle and laterally, the basal 

 projections being narrowed at the apex ; the fourth segment is more narrowly yellow at 

 the apex ; the black band there is also dilated, but only slightly in the middle. 



Hah. Common in Minikoi, Laccadives ; one </ from Goidu, Maldives. 



Fam. Sphegidae. 

 8. Sceliphron madraspatanum Fab. 

 Hab. Goidu, Goifurfehendu Atoll, and Fainu, Mahlos Atoll, Maldives. 



9. Sceliphron violaceum Fab. 

 Hah. Hulule, Male Atoll, and Mamaduwari, Mahlos Atoll, Maldives. Minikoi, Laccadives. 

 Both these species of Sceliphron are of universal distribution in the Oriental region. 



