588 MAJOR E. E. AUSTEN ON THE 



specific identity of Bellardi's type with even the largest member 

 of the series of specimens under discussion is beyond question, 

 and the examination of a small female of F. bellardii, which has 

 been in the National Collection for upwards of fifty-five years, 

 entirely supports this conclusion. In the latter specimen, as in 

 the type, the shining transverse bands on the dorsum of the 

 abdomen are russet-brown instead of black, and a similar colora- 

 tion is exhibited by one or more of the lai-ger females of 

 P. bellardii in the British Museum. 



The particulars with reference to the fifteen specimens of 

 this species (including the type and paratypes of Acanthomera 

 championi 0. Sack.) in the National Collection are as follows: — 

 One 5 (liolotype of the species), Mexico ( — Salle), ex coll. Bigot, 

 presented by J. E, Collin, F.E.S. ; one $ (type of Acanthomera 

 championi 0. Sack.), Chontales, Nicaragua {E. M. Janson) ; one 

 2 , Orizaba, Mexico ( — Salle) ; one $ , Bugaba, Panama (G. 0. 

 Champion); one 2 , R. Dagua, Colombia (\V. F. E. Rosenberg) ; 

 one § , provenance unknown \ex coll. W. W. Saunders). The 

 remaining nine specimens, presented to the British Museum 

 (Natural History) by Mr. J. E. Collin, F.E.S., previously formed 

 part of the collection of the late J. M. F. Bigot, where they were 

 placed above the label " A. heydeni, Wied." * Of these examples, 

 one is from Mexico, two are from Nicaragua, and the remainder 

 (if the general label can be trusted) from Brazil, 



Of the two females of F. bellardii belonging to the Hope 

 Department, University Museum, Oxford, one is from Chontales, 

 Nicaragua, 1870 (^, M. Janson), the other from Peru ("E Mus. 

 Saunders, 1867 "). 



From what has been stated above, it will have been seen that 

 P. bellardii, at any rate in the female sex, is, like other species 

 of Pantophthalmidro, subject to great variation in size. 



Infestation by Gamasid nymphs of the usual species is 

 exhibited by at least two of the specimens in the National 

 Collection ; in the cases referred to, the pseudo-parasites in small 

 numbers are clustered together beneath the hind mai-gins of one 

 or more of the distal abdominal tergites, commencing with the 

 fourth. An Acarid pseudo-parasite of a different kind, deter- 

 mined by Mr. A. S. Hirst as an adult female of a species of 

 Macrocheles, was found on the front (frons) of one of the 

 Brazilian females from the Bigot collection. 



According to Enderlein (Zool. Anz., Bd. xliv. no. 13, p. 585, 

 July 28, 191 4), P. helleri Enderl. is a synonym of P. {Acantho- 

 mera) champioyii 0. Sack. It would be impossible to arrive at 

 such a conclusion from a perusal of Enderlein's original descrip- 

 tion of P. helleri {vide sujyra), in which the front (frons) in the 

 female is explicitly stated to be narrowed posteriorly, and to be 

 less than twice as long as broad. 



* Acanthomera heydenii Wicd., though tvcnted as a valid species by Eiiderloin 

 (Zool, Anz., Bd. xli. p. 102 (1912)), is iu reality synonymous with FanfopJtthalmus 

 tabanimis Tiiunb, (c/. p, 5G2), 



