Mr, E. E. Turner on Fossorlal Ifymenoptera. 307 



marked as the type in the British ]\luseum collection being 

 7s'. julii, Rom.j which does not at all agree with the de- 

 scription. In Smith's collection I found under the name 

 E. eli^gantulum two specimens of Elis obscura, Fabr., which 

 answer well to the description. 1 am inclined to think 

 thnt Smithes label must have been shifted accidentally in the 

 Museum collection, and that elegantahan should be treated 

 as a synonym of Elis obscura, Faur. 



Tiphia gigantea, sp. n. 



5 . Nigra, nitidissima, sparse punctata, segmento dorsali sexto 



longitudinaliter rugoso ; alls fuscis. 

 Long. lG-19 mm. 



Clypens depressed, transverse at the apex, shining, finely 

 punctured at the base. Head shining, very sparsely punc- 

 tured on the vertex and round the ocelli, more closely on the 

 front ; posterior ocelli nearly tw ice as far from the eyes as 

 from each other ; scape shining, with long pale fulvous hairs 

 beneath; the apical joint of the tlagellum rather slender, 

 narruwcd to the apex and longer than the jenultimate joint. 

 Pronotum sparsely punctured anteriorly, with a broad 

 smooth area posteriorly separated from the anterior portion 

 by a slightly depressed, arched row of deep punctures. 

 Mesonotum and scutellum shining, with a few scattered 

 punctures ; tegnlse large and smooth ; pleurae sparsely 

 punctured. ]\ledian segment smooth, subopaque, the margins 

 sharply derined, nearly half as broad again as long, with 

 three longitudinal carinie, the outer ones almost parallel and 

 separated ii'om each other by a distance equal to about one- 

 third of their length, the sides of the segment obliquely 

 striated, the face of the posterior truncation opaque, shallovvly 

 punctured at the base. Abdomen shining, the segments 

 spaisely punctured at the base and the apex, more strongly 

 on the fourth and fifth segments ; the basal segment short, 

 almost smooth, without a carina at the base, the second 

 segment slightly constricted at the base; the sixth dorsal 

 segment longitudinally punctured-rugose, the sides of the 

 apical segments with rather sparse whitish pubescence. First 

 transverse cubital nervure short, the second three times as 

 long and slightly curved inwards in the middle. First re- 

 current nervure received at the middle of the first cubital 

 cell, second just before three-quarters from the base of the 

 second cubital cell ; stigma very small. 



Black; the apex of the sixth dorsal segment dark reddish 

 brown. Wings rather pale fuscous, nervures black. 



Hah. Petropolis, Brazil. August and October. 



