68 STBPHID-S. 



62. Phytomia aurigera, sp. n. 



c? . Length of body 16 mm. 



A handsome species, very like the preceding, but easily distin- 

 guishable owing to the presence of four broad spots of golden 

 tomentum near the end of the abdomen, which also bears a golden 

 fringe on the sides. 



I originally believed that this species was the undescribed male 

 of Ph. bullata, but after correspondence with Dr. Speiser and 

 Prof. Sjostedt, I have come to the conclusion that this cannot be 

 so. With reference to the males of Ph. bullata in the Stockholm 

 Museum, Prof. Sjostedt wrote : "there are no large spots of golden 

 tomentum on the posterior segments ; isolated yellow hairs are 



Fig. 18. Phytomia aurigera, sp. n. (3* . X 3. 



certainly present here as elsewhere, but there are no definite spots." 

 I therefore describe the species as new, but it seems singular that 

 in the collection there are only 5 $ of bullata and only tf c? of 

 aurigera, while the localities of both are not far apart. 



In the nearly allied Oriental Ph. chrysopyga, Wied., both sexes 

 have a gilded abdomen, therefore it is perhaps probable that the 

 female of aurigera also possesses golden patches on the abdomen. 



Head and its appendages exactly as in bullata ; the antenna? 

 are even smaller, the third joint being almost circular; the eyes 

 are in contact for a very long distance, which is more than double 

 the length of the vertical triangle ; the facets of the upper half 

 of the eyes aro of a reddish colour, and much larger than the 

 inferior ones, which are also dark-coloured and show three hori- 

 zontal dark bands (in the female of bti'/lnfa at least four such 



