of Fossorial Hymenoptera. 405 



Genus Sericophorus, Shuck. 



Sericophorus bicolor. 



Female. Length 3£ lines. Head and thorax blue ; abdomen 

 and legs ferruginous. The head closely and finely punctured ; 

 the antennae, anterior margin of the clypeus, mandibles, and 

 palpi ferruginous ; the mandibles abruptly narrowed in the 

 middle, the angle of the broader part produced into a tooth. 

 The thorax finely and closely punctured ; the wings flavo- 

 hyaline, the nervures pale ferruginous ; a deep channel runs 

 from the base to the apex of the metathorax. The abdomen 

 smooth, shining, and immaculate. 



Hah. Australia (Swan River). 



Genus Megalomma. 



Head transverse ; eyes very large, ovate, lateral, and ap- 

 proximating anteriorly, their inner orbits touching the margins 

 of the clypeus ; the ocelli in a triangle on the vertex ; the 

 clypeus transverse, rounded anteriorly ; mandibles arcuate, 

 acute at their apex, and with two minute teeth within ; the 

 antennae inserted above the clypeus, about half the width of 

 the latter above it ; the scape short, shorter than the second 

 joint of the funiculus, which is slightly thickened towards the 

 apex. Thorax ovate ; the collar transverse ; the metathorax 

 narrowed posteriorly, and rounded at its apex, and with a 

 large triangular space at its base, defined by an impressed 

 marginal line ; the anterior wings with one marginal and three 

 submarginal cells, the marginal cell narrow, elongate, and 

 pointed at its apex ; the first submarginal cell nearly as long 

 as the two following ; the second nan-owed towards the mar- 

 ginal, and receiving the two recurrent nervures, the first being 

 received about the middle, the second near the apex of the cell ; 

 the third cell quadrangular and oblique ; the tibiae and tarsi 

 moderately spinose ; the claws simple, with a large pulvillus 

 between their fork. Abdomen : the first segment forming a 

 petiole as long as the second segment, and narrowed towards 

 its base, on each side of which is a minute tooth. 



The name of this genus was proposed by Shuckard in 

 Lardner's ' Encyclopaedia,' but the genus was never charac- 

 terized ; it is given in the ' Nomenclator Zoologicus ' of Agassiz. 

 The insect typical of the genus is in the British Museum, with 

 a manuscript name attached ; the name is therefore retained. 

 The species included in the genus form what may be re- 

 garded as a section of the genus Gorytes, having a petiolated 

 abdomen. 



