TENTHEEDO MESOMELA. 93 



17. TENTHEEDO MESOMELA. 



Tenthredo mesomela, Lin., F. S., 1549 <? ; Fall., Acta, 1808, 98 y 

 28 ; Thorns., Hym. Scand., i, 272, 4 ; 

 Cam., P. N. H. S., Glas., iii, 90; E. 

 M. M., xii, 199 (laiO ; Fauna, 13, 13 ; 

 Andre, Species, i, 460 ; Cat., 58,* 48. 



viridis, King, Berl. Mag., viii, 191, 135 (nee viridis, 



Lin.) ; Htg., 310, 45 ; Evers., Bull. 

 Mosc., xx, 52, 28. 



interrupta, Lep., Moil., 86, 249, F. Fr., pi. 4, fig. 5. 



hebraica, Fourc., E. P., ii, 363. 



marginata, Christ., Hym., 438. 



scalaris, Thorns., Opus., 303, 3. 

 Allantus viridis, Ste., 111., vii, 69, 37. 



Antennae black, shorter than the abdomen ; basal joint nearly three 

 times the length of the second ; fifth, sixth, and seventh slightly thick- 

 ened ; ninth oblong, thinner and shorter than the eighth. Head black, 

 shining, finely punctured, covered with a longish pale down ; face from 

 below the antennal fovea, as well as the lower parts of the orbits of the 

 eyes, greenish -white ; mandibles blackish, palpi greenish ; antenna 

 fovea deep, oblong ; clypeus roundly emarginated. Mesonotum black, 

 opaque, deeply punctured ; tegulae, pronotum, pleurae, sternum, scutel- 

 lum, post-scutellum, and a spot behind, greenish- white ; pleurae marked 

 with a black oblique line ; pleural sutures black ; scutellum smooth, 

 shining, raised; cenchri small. Legs greenish- white ; femora and 

 tibiae above, posterior tarsi and apex of tibiae almost entirely, and the 

 joints of anterior tarsi annulated with, black ; calcaria black, pale at 

 the base. Wings hyaline, the apex somewhat fuscescent, costa and 

 stigma black. Abdomen longer than the head and thorax ; the dorsal 

 surface, except at the sides, black, the juncture of the segments, and 

 blotch, sides and belly greenish -white. Sheath projecting, hairy, its 

 apex black. 



c? smaller ; there is only a somewhat triangular black mark on each 

 of the abdominal segments, and the whole of the legs are lined with 

 black above throughout. Sometimes the abdomen has the dorsal surface 

 entirely black. 



Length 5 6 lines. 



This insect has frequently been confounded with 

 T. viridis, from which it may be easily distinguished 

 by its black antenna, more strongly punctured 

 mesonotum, black stigma, and shorter and thicker 

 antenna3. The same well-marked characters separate 

 it from the much smaller T. picta. 



The larva feeds in the autumn months on various 

 species of Ranunculus, Heracleum, and, I think also, 

 on Veronica. When at rest it lies rolled up in a ball 



