44 METHOCA. 



antennae and the mandibles red, the tips of the latter griseous. 

 Thorax shining red, and coarsely punctured ; legs red, spinose 

 outside, and slightly pubescent. Abdomen black and shining ; 

 the first segment and base of the second red ; the apical mar- 

 gin of the second, third, and sometimes the fourth, red, with 

 the two apical segments entirely red ; the basal segment 

 coarsely punctured ; the second and following segments with 

 scattered punctures ; the apical margins ciliated with glittering 

 white hairs, also a few thinly scattered at the sides of the ab- 

 domen. 



Var. /3. The second segment entirely black, and only the basal 

 and apical segments red. 



Male. Length 3-4J lines. Black, coarsely punctured, and 

 covered with a scattered griseous pubescence ; the wings slightly 

 coloured and beautifully iridescent, the nervures black. 



This insect has been taken at Hampstead, Charlton, Coombe 

 Wood, Wey bridge, and Hawley Green, Hants ; Sandown Bay 

 and Luccomb Chine, Isle of Wight ; at Deal, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 

 and Southend ; also near Wakefield, Yorkshire. This proves 

 the species to be widely distributed. At Weyb ridge, twelve spe- 

 cimens of the female were taken in a small sand-pit, the males 

 being plentiful on flowers, in the second week in August. 



Genus 3. METHOCA. 



Methoca, Latr. Hist. Nat. xiii. 268 $ (1805). 



Mutilla, pt., Jurine, Hym. 266 (1807). 



Tengyra, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 116<? (1809). 



Female. Head subglobose ; eyes oval and lateral ; the stem- 

 mata placed in a triangle high on the vertex ; antenna filiform, 

 inserted at the lateral posterior margins of the clypeus, rather 

 longer than the thorax ; the clypeus triangular ; the mandibles 

 arcuate. The thorax elongate, doubly strangulated, rounded at 

 the base and apex ; legs long and slender, the coxae very ro- 

 bust ; femora subclavate ; the tarsi longer than the tibiae. Ab- 

 domen ovato-conical, attached to the thorax by a short petiole. 



Male. Head transverse, flattened in front, convex behind ; 

 eyes oval, prominent, and lateral; the stemmata large, placed 

 in a triangle on the vertex ; antennae filiform, tapering to a 

 point at their apex; the scape very short; the joints of the 

 flagellum beyond the third subarcuate. Thorax oblong, the 



