48 POMPILIDE. 
curved in the g; labrum either entirely concealed or but 
slightly disclosed ; mandibles generally unidentate, sometimes 
bidentate. THorax gibbo-cylindrical, truncate or obtuse at 
its extremity; collar transverse, extending laterally to the 
tegule, and posteriorly curved; superior mings mith one 
marginal cell, nearly semicircular or subtriangular, and three 
submarginal cells,—the first as long or longer than the two follon- 
ing,—the second receiving about its centre the first recurrent 
nervure,—the third, which is either triangular or subquadrate, 
receives the second,—a fourth submarginal sometimes traced ; the 
posterior legs very long, the sides of the intermediate and 
posterior t2bie generally spinose or serrated, and the anterior 
tarsi ciliated on the exterior; the claws bifid, with a small 
pulvillus within their fork. ABpomEN ovate in the 9, 
elongate in the 4. 
Type, P. fuscus. 
Obs. The nervures of the wings vary somewhat, not only 
in the species but also in individuals: the most variable are 
those species which form the second and third submarginal 
cells by contracting them considerably towards the marginal, 
which causes them to become triangular, and the second and 
third transverso-cubital nervures occasionally anastomose 
before reaching the radial, which makes the third submar- 
ginal cell petiolated ; the P. niger and P. viaticus are par- 
ticularly liable to this monstrosity ; but, as it is not constant, 
Jurine’s second family of the genus Miscus cannot be re- 
tained. See Obs. on the genus Miscus. 
{4+ The name is derived from woumaos —a sea-fish. Fa- 
bricius constructed the genus in 1798 in his ‘‘ Supplement” 
to the “ Ent. Syst.” to receive several of his Spheces. 
Latreille had, however, previously, in his ‘‘ Précis,” con- 
structed the genus Psammochares from their characters, but 
he subsequently adopted Fabricius’ name in preference, on 
