166 PERCY SLADEN TRUST EXPEDITION 



pale whitish connexivum is exposed; the hind margin on either side of this cleft is 

 broadly, and the lateral margins are rather more narrowly, black-pigmented ; the hind 

 margin on either side of the cleft bears 5 or 6 very long strong blackish bristles set close 

 together; on either side of these, at the outer angles, the margin bears 2 or 3 short 

 blackish bristles and the disc of the tergite bears a number of short sub-erect bristles 

 in its lateral portions. Tergite 2 large, yellowish, chitinous, occupying nearly half the 

 length of the abdomen : divided longitudinally by a pale line which is not always very 

 evident : the hind margin slopes obliquely backwards on either side to the middle line, 

 immediately on either side of which the segment is produced into a remarkable blunt- 

 pointed process : the two processes are slightly divergent, and separated from one 

 another by an elongate triangular cleft. A streak of darker brown pigment extends 

 along the outer side of each process some way forward into the segment ; the two streaks 

 diverge slightly from behind forwards, and each becomes broader and more dilute anteriorly 

 until it is gradually lost in the surrounding yellow colour of the segment. Each of the 

 processes bears several bristles ; a long stout divergent bristle rises from its inner 

 side just before the apex, there is a shorter bristle at the extreme apex and 

 one or two still shorter ones near it. The hind margin of the segment bears 3 

 or 4 rather long bristles, spaced out, on either side towards the sides of the body. 

 The disc of the segment bears scattered short erect bristles laterally, but the median 

 portion, especially in front, is bare except for a very few short bristles on either side 

 of the median longitudinal line. Behind this 2nd tergite is an area of whitish con- 

 nexivum, bare in the middle, at the sides covered with numerous scattered minute and 

 exceedingly short bristles. Behind this connexivum is a small, more strongly chitinised, 

 yellowish portion, with a slightly rounded hind margin bearing 6 bristles, 3 on either 

 side separated by a median interval*. The anal segment is short, tapering slightly, 

 but rather broad apically : quite bare above, but with one or two bristles at either side, 

 and a longer and a shorter one at each hind angle. 



Ventrally (fig. 2), the hasal sternite is as in the $. Sternite 2 consists of connexival 

 membrane ; surface rather closely covered with fine short bristles, becoming slightly 

 longer behind ; hind margin indicated by a transverse series of longer and stouter bristles, 

 those towards the sides longer than the median ones. Sternite 3 consisting of a very 

 short area of connexivum, its surface bare, its hind margin indicated by a series of bristles 

 similar to that on sternite 2. Sternite 4 also short and with its surface bare : its hind 

 margin has, at either lateral extremity, a small yellowish chitinous area : the marginal 

 series of bristles is nearly similar to those on the two preceding sternites, except that 

 on each of the two small chitinous areas two of the bristles are very long and directed 

 outwards. Sternite 5 bears two much larger yellowish chitinous areas, which are 

 separated in the middle line by only a very narrow space of white connexivum : each 

 chitinous area bears a transverse series of short bristles in front of the hind margin, 

 and a series of much longer bristles on the hind margin : in the marginal series longer 



* In the British Museum specimen from Labuan this small chitinous area is much smaller and bears only 

 two bristles. The specimen has long been preserved dry, and it is possible that other bristles may have been 

 broken off. In other respects the Labuan example corresponds closely with those from Assumption. 



