THE ATHALIA GROUP OF THE GENUS MELIT^EA. 133 



almost twice the length of the body ; the third joint straight, twice 

 the length of the following. Head large, clearly wider than the 

 thorax. $ . Length 1 mm. 



The coxge are darker coloured than the rest of the hind legs, 

 almost black. The antennas are lighter colom'ed, i. e. almost fuscous 

 underneath. 



The species of Xystns, so far as we know, are parasitic on 

 Aphidce. This is the first species of Xystini I have seen from 

 the Oriental Zoological Region. 



Xystiis tinctipleuris, sp. n. 



Black, bare, shining, the pronotum and pleurae rufous, the legs 

 rufo-testaceous, the hind tarsi darker coloured ; wings hyaline, the 

 nervures black, the radial cellule more than twice longer than it is 

 wide at the commencement of the cubitus ; basal abscissa of radius 

 straight, the apical roundly curved, fully one-third longer than the 

 basal ; cubitus distinct to the apex of the wing ; the apex of the 

 wings shortly ciliated. The antennae twice the length of the body, 

 bare, the third joint not curved or dilated, one-fourth longer than the 

 following joint. (? . Length 1 mm. 



A larger, stouter species than X. malayana, with larger radial 

 cellule, owing to the apical abscission of radius being longer com- 

 pared with the basal, the nervures, too, being black ; and the legs 

 are of a deeper red colour. 



THE ATHALIA GROUP OF THE GENUS MELITMA. 

 By Rev. George Wheeler, M.A., F.E.S. 



(Continued from p. 110.) 



The range of variation in dictynna is considerably greater 

 than its very special facies would lead one to expect, but the 

 development does not take place in any unusual direction. The 

 depth of colouring, extent of suffusion both of the dark bands 

 and of the base, variegation of the bands of the ground colour 

 on the upper side, depth and extent of the markings on the f. w., 

 and the colour and proportion of the bands of the h. w. form, 

 as in other species, the elements of variation. With regard to 

 the proportion of the black and the ground colour, every 

 imaginable distribution is to be found, from the light f. w. of 

 vernetensis to the black b. w. of scnwiigra; nor does it at all 

 follow that the fore and hind wings present anything approach- 

 ing parallel variation ; neither can I find any rule, either of 

 altitude or latitude, which seems to govern this distribution 

 of coloration, though the mountain forms are on the whole both 

 smaller and darker than those of the plains ; the exceptions, 

 however, are so many, that to formulate a law on the matter 

 would be impossible, the var. vernetensis alone being apparently 



