GENUS ALLANTUS. 139 



Genus ALLANTUS. 



Allantus, Jurine, Hymen., 54. 

 Htg., Blattw., 285. 



Lanceolate cellule with a short perpendicular nervure. Posterior 

 wings with two middle cellules. Stigma mostly pale. 



Antenna a little longer or shorter than the thorax; the first joint 

 large, more than double the length and breadth of the second, the third 

 joint double the length of the fourth, the succeeding joints considerably 

 thickened, fusiform ; ninth sharply conical, narrower than the eighth. 



Legs of medium length, somewhat thick, the posterior coxao not 

 reaching beyond the apex of the second abdominal segment ; the tibia 

 and femora are of nearly equal length, the tarsi are longer than the 

 former. In the <? the tibia) at the apex and the basal joints of the 

 tarsi are swollen. 



Head broad, thick, projecting considerably behind the eyes, which 

 are oval, converging, and reaching to near the base of .the mandibles. 

 Antenna! fovea absent. Vertex thick. Mandibles with three subapical 

 teeth. 



Clypeus incised at the apex but not very deeply; labrum large, 

 rounded at the apex. 



Abdomen slightly inflated in the middle, subcylindrical, generally 

 marked with yellowish or whitish bands. 



In coloration the Allanti are usually black, with 

 yellow bands on the abdomen ; yellow marks on the 

 mouth, pronotum, and more rarely on the pleuraD, 

 while the legs are yellow, with the femora and tarsi 

 more or less black. The scutellum is black, rarely 

 yellow, and the same remark holds good for the 

 antenna. The general rule is that when the scutellum 

 is yellow, so also are the antennse wholly or in part, 

 and vice versa. The wings are generally hyaline, more 

 or less inf us cated at the apex, or they may be entirely 

 black or bluish (metallic) black, or yellowish. The 

 stigma is always pale. The thorax is in the majority 

 of species roughly punctured and opaque ; more rarely 

 it is smooth and shining. 



Most of the species are very variable in the colora- 

 tion, hence the specific determinations are somewhat 

 difficult unless other points beyond mere colour are 

 attended to. 



The males do not differ much, if at all, from the 

 females in coloration and markings. When a difference 

 exists between the two sexes, it may be either in the 



