the Hymenopterous Genus Megalyra, Wtstw. 247 



Megalijra lilliputiana, sp. n. 



2 . Nigra ; tihiis anfcicis apice tarsiaque testaceis ; terebra an- 

 tennisque dimidio basali fusco-ferrugineis ; alis h3-alinis, irides- 

 centibus, areis cubitali discoidalique infuscatis. 



Long. 2-4 mm. ; terebrue, long. 7-14 mm. 



? . Third joint o£ the flagellum a little longer than the 

 second and equal in length to the fourth. Eyes converging 

 towards the clypeus, very narrowly separated from the poste- 

 rior margin of the head; anterior ocellus separated from the 

 eyes by a distance distinctly greater than that separating the 

 posterior ocelli from each other, the posterior pair a little 

 farther from each other than from the eyes. Head and thorax 

 coarsely punctured-reticulate ; pleurae rugose, less coarsely 

 sculptured than the mesonotum. Anterior angles of the 

 mesonotum produced into short acute tubercles ; scutellum 

 large, nearly as long as the mesonotum and distinctly longer 

 than the median segment^ the latter rugose-reticulate. First 

 abdominal segment smooth and shining ; the remaining 

 segmeTits very finely and closely punctured, subopaque. 

 Legs and pleurae very sparsel}'- clothed with whitish hairs, 

 the whole insect without any patches of white pubescence. 



Uab. Kuranda, N. Queensland, June 9-24, 1913. Four 

 females. On dead Eucalyptus-wood. 



The third joint of the flagellum, though somewhat longer 

 than in testaceipes, is much less elongate than in fasciipennis. 

 In both this species and in testaceipes the eyes are more 

 elongate and reach much nearer to the posterior margin of 

 the head, and also converge more towards the clypeus than 

 in the larger Sjiecies of genus which I have seen {fascii- 

 pennis, shuckardi, melanoptera, niutilis) ; the terebra is 

 three-and-a-half times as long as the insect, not four times 

 as long, as in minuta, which also differs in the colour of 

 the legs. • 



In Megalyra mutilis, Westw., the second joint of the 

 flagellum is nearly twice as long as the third, which is only 

 twice as long as the first. The only specimen I have seen is 

 a male. 



Both testaceipes and Ulliputiana were taken by me on a 

 recent expedition to Australia. The types are in the British 

 Museum. 



17* 



