100 



black. The wings nearly hyaline and unspotted : the se- 

 condary pair have the first area of the network at the base 

 yellow. The shape of the abdomen is remarkable, re- 

 sembling a club with a handle, the first segment being very 

 thick, the second very slender; the following ones as they 

 approach the anus keep gradually dilating; the sixth and 

 seventh being the widest ; the two last diminishing in 

 width again. The anus is terminated by four appendages ; 

 the upper pair are linear, unarmed, and very hairy; the 

 lower pair terminate in two sharp teeth, or a fork. The 

 colour of the upper side of the abdomen is metallic, but 

 more obscurely so than that of the head and trunk ; its 

 underside is black, with two rows of obscure pale spots. 



Linnaeus, in the first edition of his Fauna Suecica, con- 

 sidered the insect here figured as distinct from his L. cEiiea^ 

 (which appears to diifer from it in having yellow lines upon 

 the thorax, and a black abdomen) ; but in the second 

 edition of that admirable work he gave thcni as varieties. 

 Having never met with a, we cannot venture to give a de- 

 cided opinion as to its identity with /3, yet we cannot help 

 suspecting that they may be distinct species. Linnceus, 

 amongst his synonyms, has referred to the same numbers 

 in Ray both for this insect and h. depressa. They belong 

 evidently to the latter. Our reference to that illustrious 

 father of natural history in E'ngland will, we trust, be 

 found perfectly correct. His description so happily pour- 

 Irays our insect, that we camiot resist the temptation we 

 feel to insert it here. " Thorax pilis crebris hirtus est, 

 supine e viridi et cupreo mixto, subtus cupreo colore pilos 

 translucente splendcns. Abdomen longum ut in hoc ge- 

 nere, tenuc, laeve, ad exortum a thorace et ad caudam in- 

 tumescens. Alae mcntbranaceoe pellucidi'c ad exortum 

 lutco tinctse, duplici in margine cxteriore lineola nigra, una 

 majore pi ope extremum, altera transversa minima et vix 

 discernenda circa mediam partem notata?." 



