FTYCHOPTEEA. 283 



pubescence being concolorous with the ground-colour. Winys 

 yellowish grey, beautifully iridescent, unmarked, minutely pubescent 

 on posterior border; venation as in P. contaminata, veins dark 

 brown. Halteres bright yellow. 



Length <$ 7-8 millim., $ 9 millim. 



Described from several examples taken by me at Darjiling, 

 7000 feet, 7-16. x. 05 and 30. ix. 08. 



Type c? in the Indian Museum ; type $ and cotype <$ 3 in my 

 collection ; cotype $ from Darjiling in the Vienna Museum. 



Normally Ptyclioptera should have 16-joiuted antennae, but the 

 3rd joint in this species is as long as the next two together, and 

 occasionally it appears as if two joints were present, but a careful 

 examination convinces me that it is single. In most of the speci- 

 mens the whole antennae are certainly present and undamaged. 

 The species, however, cannot possibly be removed from this 

 genus, it being in every character a true Ptyclioptera. 



194. Ptychoptera atritarsis, 



Ptyclioptera atritarsis, Brunetti, Rec. lud. Mus. vi, p. 234 (1911). 



5 . Head : whole upper part from the vertex down to the 

 antennae black, bare, shining ; face below antennas, proboscis, 

 palpi (except black tips), wholly orange-yellow. Antennae black, 

 but microscopically covered with hoary dust ; scapal joints orange- 

 yellow ; a few hairs on all the joints. Eyes black ; the orbit at 

 the sides brownish yellow, with a set of black hairs ; orbit dis- 

 appearing at the vertex. Neck yellow. Thorax orange-yellow, 

 practically bare, dorsum slightly ferruginous. A black stripe on 

 the front of the prothorax, which is carried downwards as far as 

 the fore coxae ; tivo small black spots on the dorsum behind the 

 upper end of this stripe ; a black stripe begins widely on each 

 humerus, extending narrowly backwards to the middle of the 

 metanotum, spreading inwards slightly at the base of the wings, 

 and narrowly interrupted immediately behind their insertion. 

 Underside of thorax shining coal-black, but the sides of the meso- 

 thorax are orange-yellow, and a thick scaly process issues from the 

 base of the wings, proceeds widely downwards nearly to the middle 

 coxae, and then bends hindwards and upwards, joining the 

 scutellum, and enclosing the base of the halteres in its path. A 

 narrow black line runs interruptedly round the posterior border 

 of the thoracic dorsum, replaced immediately in front of the 

 scutellum by two small black spots. Metanotum oblong, large, 

 traces of a black central streak. Scutellum oblong, elevated but 

 moderately small, supported at each corner by a pronounced 

 scutellar ridge. Abdomen orange-yellow, with a few irregular 

 hairs ; 1st segment with a yellowish white sheen at the extreme 

 base in front ; a narrow black cross-band on the dorsum near the 

 base of the segment, which line is continued forwards along the 

 sides of the abdomen as far as the base. Posterior borders of all 



