MELANIPS TJRTICETI. 171 



author to define the genus and to apply the name 

 anew. This Giraud did by making it cover Amblynotus 

 and Sarothrus ; but the former, as we have seen, can 

 scarcely be ousted ; nor can the latter, for in any point 

 of view it must be regarded as an offshoot from Melanips 

 or Amblynotus. In view of the ambiguity of the de- 

 scription, Thomson was perfectly justified in taking 

 his own view of the matter, and having used it for a 

 different species from Griraud and defined it anew, I 

 consider that Melanips should be used as defined by the 

 learned Swede. There is some ambiguity about 

 Dicderea. It seems to me that the same species has 

 formed the type for Dicserea and Zygosis. Foerster 

 quotes the same species as type ; an analysis of his de- 

 scriptions shows that the only distinction lies in 

 Zygosis having hairy eyes ; in the important points of 

 the form and sculpture of the thorax and abdomen, 

 and in the remarkable position of the areolet, they 

 agree. As for the eyes, it is very difficult to see the 

 pubescence on them ; one or two of my specimens 

 apparently show it under a strong lens, but really its 

 absence (if it be really absent) cannot be considered 

 of much value if there is an agreement in other points 

 of importance, for it might readily be rubbed away. 



1. MELANIPS TJRTICETI. 

 PI. YI, figs. 1, la. 



Figites urticeti, Dbm., Onyc. Syn. tab., p. 3, No. 2, tab. ii, f. 2. 

 Psilogaster heteropterus, Htg., Germ. Zeits., iv, 418. 

 Melanips urticeti, Thorns., Oef ., xviii, 417. . 

 Figites heteropterus, Reinh., B. E. Z., iv, 235, 7. 



nitens, Gir., Verb. z.-b. Wien, x. 149, teste Reinhard, 

 I.e. 



Black; head and thorax covered with a fuscous pubescence; the 

 knees, tibiae, and tarsi fuscous-red ; the tibiae largely infuscated ; wings 

 clear hyaline, the nervures black. Antennae a little longer than the 

 abdomen, the flagellum inclining to fuscous ; the third joint double the 

 length of the fourth. The entire body shining, impunctate ; the median 



