CRABRO OBLIQUUS. 



139 



the eyes and the clypeus covered with a dense silvery pubes- 

 cence ; the tips of the mandibles rufo-piceous. Thorax shining 

 and delicately punctured ; the collar and mesothorax thinly 

 covered with long black pubescence; the metathorax with a 

 smooth shining subcordiform space at its base, which is divided 

 from the posterior portion by a short transverse consute inci- 

 sure, the sides not being distinctly enclosed ; down the centre 

 is a deep longitudinal incisure, which dilates beyond the trans- 

 verse one into a deep fossulet, at the sides of which it is smooth 

 and shining ; the wings hyaline and iridescent, with the nervures 

 and tegulae piceous ; the anterior tibiae fulvous within ; the in- 

 termediate femora with a fuscous stripe in front and behind ; 

 the tarsi piceous ; the anterior tibire and tarsi densely fimbriated 

 on the exterior ; the legs sometimes entirely dark testaceous. 

 Abdomen elongate-ovate, subpubescent and shining, with the 

 margins of the three basal segments depressed. 



The typical specimen of this species, formerly in the collection 

 of Mr. James Francis Stephens, is now in the British Museum : 

 its locality is not known. 



18. Crabro obliquus. 



C. niger, elongatus ; metathoracis spatio subcordiformi disco 

 tan turn laevi, limbo oblique striato. 



Crabro obliquus, Shuck. Foss. Hym. 167. 26. 

 Dahlb. Hym. Europ. i. 315. 196. 



Female. Length 2-J 3* lines. Black ; head subquadrate, the 

 vertex minutely and closely punctured ; on each side of the 

 posterior stemmata is a smooth shining depression, and between 

 them a longitudinal impressed line which extends a little be- 

 yond them ; in front of the anterior stemma is a deeply im- 

 pressed line which extends to the face, which is canaliculated, 

 smooth and shining ; the scape yellow on each side ; the inner 

 orbit of the eyes and the clypeus densely covered with silvery 

 pubescence, the latter carinated in the centre ; the mandibles 

 ferruginous at their apex, sometimes yellow in the middle ; the 

 palpi pale testaceous. Thorax densely covered with minute 

 punctures; the mesothorax with two central, parallel, slightly 

 elevated lines at its base, extending to the disk, and two lateral 

 ones much shorter; the metathorax with a cruciform consute 

 incisure, the transverse one curved upwards and enclosing the 

 anterior portion of the metathorax ; the disk smooth and shining, 

 the sides of the enclosure obliquely striated ; the posterior por- 

 tion of the metathorax transversely striated ; the collar yellow, 



