TWO NEW AUSTRALIAN CULICIDS. 157 



lobe ; metanotum deep brown. Abdomen deep brown with violet 

 reflections, in some lights under the microscope bright violet, each 

 segment with prominent apical later creamy spots, which in some 

 segments spread almost across the apical borders so as to form promi- 

 nent apical pale lines, but they never quite meet, except in the penul- 

 timate segment; the first segment testaceous, with large dense black 

 scales in two confluent spots, with brown bristles ; border-bristles very 

 short, pale brown, shining apically. Venter creamy white ; tlie apical 

 spots are very pronounced on the ventral surface of dried specimens. 

 Legs jet-black ; venter of femora, of tibife and hind metatarsi silvery 

 white ; ungues small, equal, and simple. Wings with brown scales ; 

 fork-cells of moderate length, the first submarginal considerably longer 

 and narrower than the second posterior cell, its base nearer the base 

 of the wing ; stem of the first submarginal cell more than half its 

 length ; stem of the second posterior nearly as long as the cell ; 

 posterior cross-vein about twice its own length distant from the mid 

 cross-vein. Halteres with dull testaceous stem and fuscous knob. 

 Length, 4-5 mm. 



$ . Thorax and abdomen as in the female, but the abdomen nar- 

 rower, and the apical lateral spots not quite so prominent. Basal 

 lobes of genitalia densely bristly, bristles large and arise from distinct 

 papillae; claspers long and thin, simple. Antennae deep brown, with 

 deep brown plume-hairs, pale banding more or less noticeable ; pro- 

 boscis black ; palpi shorter than the proboscis, deep blackish brown, 

 no " hair-tufts," the last two joints of nearly equal length, the apical 

 one slightly shorter, and with terminal bristles. Legs as in the female ; 

 fore ungues unequal, the larger uuiserrated, the smaller simple ; mid 

 ungues unequal, both simple ; hind legs very small, equal, and simple, 

 much curved. Wings with brown scales ; the first submarginal cell 

 longer and narrower than the second posterior cell, the base nearly 

 level with that of the second posterior ; stem of the first submarginal 

 about one-third of the length of the cell ; stem of the second posterior 

 cell about two-thirds of the length of the cell ; posterior cross-vein con- 

 siderably longer than the mid, and more than twice its length distant 

 from it. Length, 5-5 mm. 



Kah. South Queensland. 



Time of capture. January. 



Observations. — Described from a series of dried and spirit 

 specimens collected and bred by Dr. Bancroft. It is a very- 

 marked species, one striking characteristic being the black 

 curved line behind the white-scaled prothoracic lobes. The 

 white lateral apical spots are also characteristic. Dr. Bancroft 

 kept this species alive for a month in confinement, and during 

 that time they bit on three occasions. 



