NEMATUS RUFICORNIS. 63 



uncommon aberration is met with having the entire 

 tarsus black. The shape of the third cubital cellule 

 also varies, some individuals having it more widened 

 at the apex than in others. The tegulas are generally- 

 pale, but often they are blackish. The wings are 

 sometimes scarcely clouded in the centre. 



I have no doubt the species described above is the 

 fraxini of Thomson, but I am not at all sure that it is 

 the fraxini of Hartig ; for, inter alia, that is described 

 as having the labrum white and the antennae " scarcely 

 longer than the abdomen," while in the species I have 

 described they are nearly as long as the thorax and 

 abdomen. The $ of. fraxini is not described by Har- 

 tig ; Thomson merely says that it has the antennas 

 pallid red, black at the base. I have a German speci- 

 men which agrees with Har tig's description ; it has 

 the labrum white, the antennas shorter and thicker 

 than in ruficornis 9 abdomen shorter, broader, and the 

 costa is of the same colour as the stigma, namely 

 brownish, as Hartig describes it ; the femora, further- 

 more, have not so much black on them, and the claws 

 have a sub-apical tooth. 



I am also not sure if it be the fraxini of Brischke 

 and Zaddach (Schr. Ges. Konig., xxiv, 139). The 

 larva of this is stated to feed on the lime ; it is shining 

 green, wrinkled, the head brown with a darker mark 

 on vertex, and there is also a brown mark over each 

 eye uniting with the larger mark on vertex ; mouth 

 brown. So far as their description of the imago goes, 

 it agrees tolerably well with the above-described 

 species. 



N. crassicornis differs from ruficornis in having the 

 stigma black, the costa white, antennas thick, espe- 

 cially at the base, compressed, and as long as the 

 thorax and abdomen ; and Thomson further separates 

 it from his fraxini by the claws being bifid. N. 

 Fletcheri may be known from ruficornis by the abdo- 

 men being shorter compared to the head and thorax ; 

 the stigma is black or fuscous black ; the nervures 



