MEGALODONTES PLAGIOCEPHALUS. 89 



joint is black, the basal joint may also be black or, more rarely, 

 yellowish ; 15 17-jointed, the flagellations not longer than one of the 

 joints. Legs testaceous ; tibiae and tarsi paler ; the apex of posterior 

 tibiae and the apices of posterior tarsal joints more or less fuscous ; 

 coxae, trochanters, four anterior femora for the most part and posterior 

 at base, black. Wings brownish, darker in front and having a yellowish 

 tinge. 



Length 10 mm. 



As with the other species, the colour varies. Gene- 

 rally the markings are white, but occasionally they 

 are (and especially on the abdomen) yellowish. The 

 tegulse are usually black ; there are seldom spots on the 

 sides of the basal segments in the ? , but one is found 

 usually in the third segment in the S , which has also 

 the bands on the fifth and sixth narrower than in the ? , 

 and has also the ventral segments broadly white ; in 

 the ? there are usually only two of the ventral seg- 

 ments banded with this colour. 



From cephalotes (which it resembles in having the 

 flabellations not longer than the joints) it may be known 

 by the white colour of the markings, by the thorax 

 having at the most only two marks, by the second 

 and third segments not having yellow marks at the 

 sides, and by the wings being yellowish-brown almost 

 throughout. 



I introduce the species as British on the authority 

 of a specimen in Shuckard's collection bearing a label 

 marked, "from British Collectn., Brit. Mus., Ap. 16/42." 

 It was named " Panzeri," but not on the label itself. 



Continental distribution : Germany, Hungary, 

 France, Russia. 



Note. The evidence of the genus being truly British 

 is doubtful, and is of a similar kind to that relating to 

 Amasis. See on this point Mr. E. Saunders, B.M.M., 

 xxii, p. 140, and McLachlan, 1. c., p. 164. The evi- 

 dence of the British origin of the genus is based entirely 

 on Leech and Stephens. Undoubtedly some of the 

 species recorded by these authorities have been proved 

 to be erroneous ; others (as in the present case) have 

 only been recorded by them, and have never turned up 



