AN UNIQUE INSECT. 399 



body are black, and so is the abdomen, the latter being clothed 

 with a coat of short, soft, dense pile, which makes it look exactly 

 as if it had been cut out of the finest black silk velvet. The 

 legs are black, with the exception of the tibia, which are pale 

 brown. 



The chief beauty of the insect, however, lies in the wings, 

 which are ample, very shining, and, when viewed from above, 

 seem to be simply brown. When, however, a strong side-light 

 is thrown upon them, they flash out into the most brilliant 

 purple, as if they had been made of purple mother-of-pearl. The 

 ovipositor is exceedingly long, and much stouter than is gene- 

 rally the case, the two portions which form the sheath being 

 each of them as thick as the entire ovipositor of the Megalyra. 



The reader will perceive that a note of interrogation is placed 

 after the generic name Scolobates. This is done because the 

 insect has not as yet been examined and its place in nature 

 settled. All that is known is, that it is at all events allied to 

 the genus Scolobates, even if it does not belong to it, and it has 

 therefore been provisionally attached to that genus. 



The well-known genus Pimpla has many foreign representa- 

 tives, of which the species here figured is a conspicuous example. 



Fir. 195. — Pimpla intricatoria. 

 (Black, with yellow spots.) 



It is very simple in colouring, the body and abdomen being 

 shining black, with a few short streaks of bright yellow upon 



