Aculeate Hymeiwptera in Oxford Museum. 557 



Elis {Dielis) clotho, Sauss. and Sich., Cat. Gen. Spec. Scol., 

 1864, p. 182 %. 



Natal: Durban $ : Jan. 18, 1900 {G. F. Lcigh)\ 

 Rhodesia : Mashonaland, Salisbury $ (G-. Marshall) ; 

 Melsetter, Gazaland $ {S. A. Neave). 



It is with considerable hesitation that I assign the 

 single ^ specimen from Durban in Natal to the above 

 form, if it is not the $ of E. clotho, but previously un- 

 described, it may stand as E. leighi mihi. 



^ . Black with an iridescent bhie sheen on the abdomen ; head, 

 thorax and abdomen covered all over with a more or less sparsely 

 set clothing of soft erect cinereous hairs, tibial calcaria of the 

 posterior pair of legs white, anal spines black ; the base of the 

 mandibles, upwardly convergent sliort stripes on the sides of the 

 clypeus, the posterior margin of the pronotum, lateral transverse 

 short lines one on each side on the scutellum, a medial short similar 

 line on the postscutellum, and the apical margins of the 2nd, .3rd 

 and 4th abdominal segments pale dull yellow ; of the last-mentioned 

 markings that on the 2nd segment is deeply, on the 3rd slightly 

 emarginate laterally, the marking on the 4th segment is a simple 

 transverse even band. Head, pro- and mesonotum, scutellum, 

 postscutellum and abdomen above with sparsely scattered fine and 

 very shallow punctures ; median segment regularly and more closely 

 punctured above, smooth and impunctate on its posterior face. 

 Head flat, not as broad as the thorax ; mandibles acute at apex, 

 clypeus strongly convex, face in front raised, tuberculous between 

 the antennae ; these latter filiform opaque, eyes deeply emarginate 

 above on their inner margins, ocelli prominent. Thorax oval ; 

 median segment truncate and concave posteriorly ; wings fusco- 

 hyaline with a bronzy, in some lights a purplish effulgence, forewing 

 with two cubital cells and two recurrent nervures, legs slender 

 unarmed. Abdomen : elongate slender, basal segment subpetiolate, 

 nodose towards apex, a strong constriction between it and the 2nd 

 segment, both above and below. 



Length $ 11. Exp. 28 mm. 



The above-described $ resembles more or less the 

 males of E. villosa, fasciateUa and godefredi, but can be 

 distinguished from these three forms by the paucity and 

 narrowness of the yellow markings on the abdomen, by 

 the darker colour of the wings, and by the shape of the 

 median segment which has its posterior face much more 

 deeply concave. 



