Thysanoptera {Talulif era) from Papua. 357 



tlie protliorax ; posterior third widened to base ; fore-part 

 inucli produced beyond the eyes, elevated, and bearing tlie 

 anterior ocellus (protected by two strong spine-bearing 

 tubercles) midway between the anterior margin of eyes and 

 the extreme apex of head, which is widened for the seating of 

 the antennae ; cheeks set with spine-bearing warts. Eyes 

 large and prominent. Antennce slender and nearly as long 

 as the head and prothorax together, furnished with long hairs 

 and sense-cones. Mouth-cone 



Prothorax strongly and rugosely sculj^tured, raised slightly 

 to posterior edge; a large spine-set wart at each posterior 

 angle, and anterior angles produced, forming a pair of strong 

 recurved horns. Fore femora much enlarged, each armed 

 with a tooth having its base above the mid-line beneath ; 

 fore tibise broadened, with one or more small blunt teeth at 

 apices and each tarsus armed with a large tooth. Wings 

 present. 



Abdomen very long, slender, and tapering ; simple ; tube 

 less in length than the ninth abdominal segment *. 



Species large. 



'lype. Mecynothrips wallacei, mihi. 



Mecyrwthrips may be separated from allied genera by the 

 abnormally produced head, the form of pronotum, the elon- 

 gate ninth segment of abdomen, and the short tube. In 

 known species of this group the tube is about three times as 

 long as the preceding segment, which is comparatively 

 short. 



Mecynothrips wallacei, sp. n. (PI. XIV. figs. 1-8.) 

 <J. Length 12 to 13 mm., breadth of mesothorax about 

 I'o mm. 



Colour shining black, juncture of meso- and mctascutnm 

 and ill-defined patches on the lateral edges of intermediate 

 abdominal segments almost blood-red. Intermediate and 

 hind femora "brownish black ; all tibiae brownish black, 

 reddish yellow at knees, and shaded to yellow at apices; 

 anterior tarsi reddish brown, others yellowish brown, and all 

 tipped with black. Antennae yellow, two basal and three 

 apical joints dark brown, joints three to five tipped with the 

 same colour. 



Head long, finely and transversely striate, reticulate near 

 base ; widest at base and five times the length of its greatest 

 width; only as wide immediately beyond eyes as width 

 between them, but widening to the ai)ex. Cheeks with a 



* These geceric characters are, porforco, tirawu from the male sex. 



