276 MANDIBULATA. KYM iCKOPTERA. 



Ho. albifroris. Gravcuhorst, ii. 417. — Slcph. Nomcn. 2d edit. Gen. 720. 2. 



Black : face, mouth, frontal orbits, and sometinnes part of the external ones, 

 whitish or ochreous ; mandibles black at the base ; antenna? beneath with 

 the basal joint pale yellow, the 4 following dusky or tawny, the following 

 rusty-tawny, the terminal ones fuscous; thorax with the upper edge of the 

 Deck, a dot beneath, and frequently another before the wings, and the scu- 

 tellum, whitish ; abdomen chestnut-red, the peduncle and occasionally the 

 basal segment black ; legs with the 4 anterior femora and tibiae red, the 

 former sometimes dusky towards the base, and the tibia; whitish within ; 

 coxae and trochanters black, the first sometimes with a whitish spot 

 beneath ; posterior legs black, the femora occasionally chestnut at the base ; 

 tarsi fuscescent, the 2 hinder pair darker, with the intermediate joints pale 

 or whitish ; wings smoky-hyaline ; cellule 5-angular, with the vestige of a 

 divisional nervure. 

 Scarce : taken in the vicinity of London in June. 



Genus LI.— CRYPTUS, Fabricius. 



Antennae in general long, slender, porrect in the males, more or less curved in 

 the females, sometimes a little thickened and short ; head short, transverse, 

 rather narrower than the thorax, and narrowed towards the neck : eyes ovate, 

 more or less prominent: thorax somewhat gibbous, rarely cylindric ; scu- 

 tellum more or less convex, 3-angular, with the apex obtuse, or 4-angular : 

 wings moderate ; cellule 5- or 4-angular : abdomen petiolated, of the male 

 slender and narrow, of the female ovate or oblong, the basal segment smooth 

 and bent, and the apex at times faintly com[)resscd : ovipoutor exserted, 

 straight, sometimes as long as the body, for the most part about half the 

 length : legs rather slender and long, especially the posterior pair. 

 This rather extensive genus may be distinguislied by having the 

 abdomen of the male narrow and elongate, of the female ovate or 

 oblong, the ovipositor considerably exserted, and in some species as 

 long as the abdomen; the basal segment is smooth and arched, the 

 peduncle rather long, the cellule 5- or somewhat 4-angular, and the 

 legs and antennje slender and long : the sexes are somewhat dissi- 

 milar, and, as usual in this difficult family, many of the species are 

 known of one sex only ; in some cases only males, in others only 

 females, and occasionally one or ether of them in plenty, so that it 

 is not improbable that in some instances the sexes are more dissimilar 

 than suspected. 



§ I. Scutellum and abdomen black. 

 Sp. 1. cyanator. Niger, abdomine nigro-svbcoeruleo, femoribus tibiisque rvfis, 

 harum posticis apicem versus nigris. (Long. corp. 5 — 8 lin.; Exp. Alar. 7i — 

 9i lin. ; Long. ovip. 2 lin.) 



