16G Mr R. E. Turner om the 



of the Southern Hemisphere, but wliich is apparently iden- 

 tical with a fossil genus Geoliphia, recently described by 

 Cockerell from North America ; showing that the genus had 

 a much more extensive range in the past. 1 look on the 

 genus as in some respects a link between Scolia and tlie 

 Thynnidae, and think it not improbable that it is older than 

 either of those groups. The genera Myzine and Plesia are 

 entirely absent from Australia and the single species of Tiphia 

 is evidently a Malayan immigrant. 



Individuals of some of the species of ScoUa are very 

 numerous and several of the species seem to range over 

 almost the whole continent. Dielis radnia and /c/vuosa are 

 the commonest species in Queensland. The paucity of species 

 is probably due to the absence of natural barriers and to their 

 suitability for a dry climate ; w^hilst their powers of flight 

 are not limited, as in the case of the Mutillidaj and Thynnidge, 

 by the necessity for an apterous female being carried by the 

 male. 



Key to the AustraUan Species 0/ Scolia. 



$?. 



A. Fore wing with one recurrent nervure. 



a. Three closed discoidal cells Liacos iyisularis, Sm. 



b. Two closed discoidal cells Genus Scolia. 



«'■'. Three cubital cells Subgenus Triscolia. 



a*. Black, third abdominal segment 

 spotted with yellow. 

 a*. Vertex with a transverse yellow 



band S. frontalis, Sauss. (typical). 



fe*. Vertex without a yellow band . S. frontalis, st. obscuriceps. 



P. Entirely black S.frotitalis, st. tiicoladonii. 



b^. Two cubital cells Subgenus Discolia, 



a^. Entirely black 'S'. sorur, Sm. 



V. Vertex marked with yellow S. verticalis, Fabr. 



B. Fore wing with two recurrent nervures .. Genus Ctrnipsomeris. 

 a. Three cubital cells Subgenus Trit-lis. 



a^. Three closed discoidal cells C. ferruyinea, Fabr. 



6^. Two closed discoidal cells. 

 a^. Wing dark fusco-violaceous. 



a*. Entirely black C. anthracina, Burm. 



b^. Third abdominal segment spotted 



with yellow. ... C. anthracina, var. consanguinea, Sauss. 

 b^. Wing8flavo-hyaline,abdomen banded 

 with orange. 

 a*. Second and third dorsal segments 



with large orange lateral spots . . C. gilesi, 

 b*. Second and third dorsal segments 

 evenly banded with orange. 

 a'. The orange bands narrow and 



basal C. zonata, Sm. 



b'^. The bands very broad, the second 

 and third segments narrowly 

 black at the apex. 



