Mr. C. Gr. Lamb on Exotic Chloropidse. 333 



Meroscinis, de Meijere *. 



M. plumigera, Loew. 



Natal : Durban (F. Muir, Camb. Coll.) ; S. Rhodesia : 

 Salisbury (6r. A. K. Marshall). 



M. ceneifrons, Lamb. 



Natal : Durban (F. Muir, Camb. Coll.) : S. Rhodesia : 

 Salisbury and Chirinda Forest (G-. A. K. Marshall). 



M. rugosa t Lamb. 



Natal : Durban (F. Muir, Camb. Coll.). 



Specimens are present which cannot be separated in the 

 slightest degree from the last two species, which were first 

 described by the author from the Seychelles (Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. xv. 1912, part 3, pp. 332, 333). They both belong to 

 the scutellata section of the genus, with a large steely-blue 

 triangle ; the species ceneifrons is very close to scutellata, if 

 one may judge from the description of the latter. The true 

 scutellata has a bright red third joint to the antennae, and 

 ceneifrons has normally a black one, but in some cases it is 

 distinctly rufous centrally. It might be supposed that one 

 is dealing with a variable species with many local forms ; 

 however, the exact identity of the African and Seychelles 

 specimens is not only a matter of interest in itself, but inclines 

 one to the opinion that these closely related forms are true 

 species. 



Two single-specimen species from Ceylon are very distinct 

 from any described in Becker, III. 



Meroscinis foveata, sp. n. 



The insect is remarkably punctate, the dorsal and scutellar 

 punctures being very similar in depth and distribution, which 

 is not a usual character. The long scutellum has a terminal 

 pair of long bristles and two smaller ones on each side, all on 

 well-marked tubercles. The chaetotaxy is unusually strong. 



Head (top-front view, fig. 3): — All black, the eye-margins 



* There are some who find pleasure in the barren and (to others) 

 annoying pastime of diligently working at disturbing well-known and 

 long-established names. If such an one reads this paper, he may possibly 

 find something to excite his curiosity in the Kansas Univ. Sc. Bull. hi. 

 no. 6, p. 197. 



