ie 
82 Rev. F. D. Morice on 
thorax slightly more rufescent—perhaps only a result of 
death by cyanide). 
1 @. Biskra, on Ammi visnaga. A. E. E. 
CERCERIS DACICA, var. OPULENTA, var. nov. 
The coloration of this form is utterly unlike that of 
normal dacica; but in structure I can find absolutely no 
difference, except that the puncturation of certain areas, 
and also the fine oblique striae on the “cordiform” area, 
seem to be slightly feebler and shallower. Schletterer 
describes a var. magnifica of his dacica, differing from 
the type in being much more copiously ornamented with 
yellow: but the specimens before me not only have all the 
yellow markings of var. magnifica, but many more: thus 
the tempora, scutellum, all the areas of the propodeum, 
and the Ist abdominal segment, are practically yellow 
in both sexes, the vertex is marked posteriorly in the 
gf ¢ with a large yellow spot and in the 2 ? with a pair 
of obliquely converging streaks, the collar is entirely 
yellow, and so is the interantennal carina which, as in 
all forms of dacica, is very strongly developed and in the 
2 practically reaches right up to the anterior ocellus; 
finally, in the 2 even the mesonotum is not entirely black 
but shows two discal and two lateral yellow streaks, such 
as occur in highly-coloured specimens of the related but 
very distinct and much smaller species annexa, Kohl. 
(Mr. Eaton’s 2 specimen is greatly disfigured by the 
effects of cyanide, and also seems to have been originally 
less highly coloured than any of my own; but even in 
it the mesonotum and cordiform area show markings 
which no doubt were yellow once, though now they are 
merely reddish and scarcely noticeable, having become 
almost as dark as the surfaces surrounding them.) 
T should have referred these insects without hesitation 
to caspica, Morawitz, had not that author expressly dis- 
tinguished his species from dacica, as lacking impressed 
punctures on the tegulae and at the base of the pygidial 
area. Such punctures are distinctly visible in the speci- 
mens before me, so that, if the character be reliable, 
they cannot be caspica. Otherwise, both in structure and 
colour, they agree closely with Morawitz’s description of 
the brighter (and apparently the normal) forms of that 
species. I am much inclined to suspect that dacica, 
caspica, magnifica and opulenta will ultimately prove to 
