586 MAJOR E. E. AUSTEN ON THE 



venter ochraceous-buif, pinkish-bufl" pollinose, sparsely clothed 

 with tine, glistening ochreous hairs, lateral extremities of sternites 

 brownish ; dorsum, except lateral borders of first four segments, 

 clothed with ochreous or ochraceous-bufF hairs, for most part 

 minute and inconspicuous except on first and sixth segments, 

 lateral borders of first four tergites, exce])t silvery-white spots, 

 clothed with black or blackish hair. Winys {cp. text-figs. 6 »Si 7) 

 with markings corresponding extremely closely to those exhibited 

 by 5 , but tips paler. Halteres cinnamon-buflf. Legs agreeing 

 in all essential respects Avith those of $ ; coloration of hind coxje 

 and their hairy covering as in case of adjacent area of pectus. 



Pantophthalmus vittatiis Wied, 



Acanthomera vittata Wiedemann, Auss. zweifl. Ins. i. p. 109 

 (1828). 



Acanthomera fulvida Bigot, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 5*"- Scr., T. x., 

 Bulletin, p. v (1880). [New synonym.] 



A note in the National Collection in the handwriting of the 

 late Baron 0. il. Osten Sacken, and bearing the initials " 0. S.," 

 confirms the correctness of the identification of P. vittaius 

 {Acanthomera vittata) Wied. as given above. 



The following are the specimens of this species in the British 

 Museum : a J , from the R. Amazons, Brazil {II. W. Bates) ; 

 a 2 , also from Brazil, but exact provenance unknown, taken 

 prior to 1849 {Mrs. Noel)\ and two $ $ (the type and paratype 

 of Acanthomera fulvida Big.), from Guiana {ex coll. J. Bigot : 

 presented by J. E. Collin, F.E.S.). 



The two latter examples represent a form of P. vittatus in 

 which the dark lateral spots on the dorsum of the abdomen are 

 equally well developed in both sexes. Bigot himself {loc. cit.) 

 mentions only a single specimen, but, since the alteimative 

 measurements given by this author agree with the respective 

 lengths of the $ $ referred to, his remark '' Speci7nen uniciom" 

 is probably a lapsus calami. 



There are six specimens of P. vittatus — all 5 $ — in the Hope 

 Department of the University Museum, Oxford. Of these, three 

 are simply labelled " Miers coll.", and bear no further indication 

 of provenance ; of the remainder, one has a label with the words 

 "S. S. Saunders, Bahia, Bz."; another is labelled "E Mus. 

 Saundei"s, 1867"; and a label attached to the sixth example 

 shows that this specimen was taken in Brazil, and purchased 

 from Higgins in 1871. Considerable variation in size is notice- 

 able in the Oxford series ; while the dimensions of the largest 

 $ (total length, including ovipositor and short facial beak, 

 32'25 mm. ; wing-expanse 57 mm.) are approximately the same 

 as those of Mrs. Noel's specimen in the National Collection, the 

 corresponding measurements of the smallest example in the 

 possession of the Hope Department are 24*6 mm. and 40 mm. 

 respectively — practically the same as those of the smaller of the 



