36 ABIA FASCIATA. 



4. ABIA FASCIATA. 



Vol. I, PL X, figs. 3 and 9, Trophi; Vol. II, PL V, 

 fig. 4, ? ; 4 a, <? ; 4 b, Antenna ; Vol. II, PL XIII, 

 fig. 1, Larva; 1 a, b, and c, Trophi of larva. 



Tenthredofasciata, Lin., S. N., i, 555, 5 ; F. Su., 389 ; Pz., F. G., 



Heft 17, pi. xv. 

 Cimbex fasciata, Lep., Mon., 36, 99 ; Dbm., Isis, 1837, p. 76 ; 



Prod., 59; Fall. Acta Holm., 1807, 194 6. 

 Zartea fasciata, Curt., B. E., ii, pi. xcvii (1825) ; Ste., 111., vii, 



12, 7; Htg.,Blattw.,726; J. A. Osborne, 



E. M. M., xix, 97 ; xx, 145 and 205. 

 Alia fasciata, Br. and Zad., Schr. Ges. Konig., iii, 268; Thorn., 



Hym. Sc., i, 30, 1 ; Andre, Species, i, 



31 ; Brischke, Beob. ii. Blattw. (2), 123, 



pi. viii, f. 7. 



Brassy-black ; head and thorax densely covered with a longish fus 

 cous pubescence. Abdomen smooth, shining, pubescent at apex and 

 sides, obscurely punctured ; knees, tibiae, and tarsi obscure testaceous, 

 the tarsi lighter in tint; apex of mesothorax and of first abdominal 

 segment white. Wings hyaline, with a large transverse fuscous fascia 

 in the middle ; apex faintly infuscated. 



Length 56 lines. 



With the females I have noticed the following aber- 

 rations : 



a. Apical joints of antennae blackish beneath. 



b. Metathorax entirely black. 



The d is exceedingly rare, only some half-dozen 

 specimens having been hitherto recorded, and there 

 can be no doubt, from Dr. Osborne' s experiments, that 

 the species is normally parthenogenetic. From larvse 

 gathered outside Dr. Osborne bred flies which, without 

 any connection with males, laid fertile eggs abundantly, 

 all of which hatched out and yielded flies the following 

 year. These again laid eggs, but much less freely, and 

 from these were obtained a third generation of flies, 

 which also laid a few eggs, none of which, however, 

 developed. This infertility in the third generation is 

 probably owing to the artificial conditions in which 

 they had been reared, rather than to a diminution in 

 their powers of parthenogenetic reproduction. 



