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A MONOGRAPH OF THE WASPS OF THE GENUS 

 0ERGERI8 INHABITING BRITISH INDIA. 



With notes on other Asiatic Species 



BY 



. Rowland E. Turner, f.z.s., f.e.s. 



So much collecting has been done in India, and so many new 

 species described since the publication of Colonel Bingham's 

 volume on Aculeate Hymenoptera in 1897, that I think a further 

 revision of some of the genera may be useful. In few genera has 

 the list of Indian species been more increased than in Gerceris, 

 owing to the extensive collections made by Colonel Nurse and 

 Mr. Comber near the Baluchistan Frontier. The result, owing 

 chiefly to the Quetta collection, is the inclusion of a number of 

 Paleearctic species in the fauna of British India, the mountainous 

 reo'ions of the Noi'th-West Frontier being really part of the Palas- 

 arctic region. From a study of Colonel Nurse's collection it 

 seems to me that the Palsearctic species of Gerceris have reached 

 Quetta by two routes, firstly through Europe and Turkestan, and 

 -secondly from North Africa by way of Southern Arabia and 

 Baluchistan. To the first line belong G. emarginata, Panz., and 

 G.funerea, Costa; to the second G . ■pulchella, Klug., and O.'pruinosa, 

 Morice. Few of the species, if any, seem to be identical with 

 those from S. W. Persia. At Karachi on the other hand the 

 species are mainly Indian, or in a few cases representative of, 

 but not identical with, Palsearctic species ; many species are 

 common to Karachi and Deesa, and doubtless belong to the fauna 

 of the Rajputana region. As Bingham had very little material 

 from N. W. India, the number of species of Gerceris given in his 

 work (24), is almost trebled in the present paper. 



I have thought it best to give short descriptions of all the 

 species known to me, as much too little space is given to details 

 of structure in Bingham's work, and Cameron's descriptions are 

 very scattered and not convenient for reference, and also very 

 uneven in quality. Colour seems to be an especially plastic 



