llt/menopfera from (he TranftvnnJ. •'^■■>1 



Gomi3 Salius, Fabr. (scnsii lat. apud Kolil). 



Salius capensis, Fabr. 



Sphex capensis, Fabr. Spec. Ins. i. (1781) p. 440. 



Pnmpihin capeiisix, Fabr. Syst. Piez. 1804, p. 19G. 



Hemipepsis cnpoiAis, Dhlb. Ilyin. Eur. i. (1843) p. 123. 



Mygnimia capensis, Smith, Cat. Ilyin. Ins. B. M. iii. (1855) p. 186. 



Twenty-two females and eiglit males, Pretoria {Distant) \ 

 Barberton [Rendall) ; Johannesburg [Cregoe)) Waterval- 

 onder, Durban {A. Ross). 



Salius sericeipentiis, sp. n. 



$ . Resembles S. capensis, Fabr., but the head and thorax 

 are considerably wider and more massive, and the wings 

 have the apical third fuscous, with a brilliant purple irides- 

 cence. 



Black, the head castaneous red ; the tips of the mandibles, 

 the parts round the base of the antenna*, the occiput, cheeks, 

 and region of the ocelli black ; a line round the orbits and 

 the antennae, the apex of the femora, the tibiai and tarsi of 

 the legs, and the basal two thirds of the wings deep golden 

 yellow, the extreme base of the wings black. Tlie head, 

 thorax, legs, and abdomen covered with a dense soft sericeous 

 pile, which in certain lights is seen to cover the wings, also 

 giving them a brilliant silky gloss. Head broad, as broad as 

 the thorax ; the clypeus convex, widely emarginate ante- 

 riorly ; the face hollow about the base of the antennae, the 

 vertex obliquely sloping to the front, the occiput and cheeks 

 narrow ; the eyes large, reaching to the base of the man- 

 dibles, their inner orbits slightly convergent above. Thorax 

 broad; the pronotum broadly rounded in front, its posterior 

 margin arched ; the mesonotum flat, with three distinct 

 longitudinal carinse, the space between the carinas trans- 

 versely concave ; scutellum and postscutellum convex, slightly 

 laterally compressed ; median segment short, cylindrical 

 above, the apical third abruptly and rather steeply .sloped, 

 the basal two thirds very coarsely transversely striate, the 

 apical sloping portion very smooth and shining, not striate ; 

 legs stout, the tibiae and tarsi of the intermediate and poste- 

 ricr legs strongly and closely spinose; claws of the tarsi 

 bidentate at base. Wings broad, the first recurrent nervure 

 in the fore wing uniting with the second transverse cubital 

 nervure ; a hyaline spot at the base of the first discoidal cell. 

 Abdomen broadly fusiform, the pygidium densely covered 

 with stiff long black hairs. 



