98 MISS G. RICARDO ON A NEW SPECIES OP PLY. [Feb. 6, 



forehead at the vertex protuberant. Head bee- like in shape, the 

 antennae inserted rather more than half way down the head. 

 Abdomen with six segments, the second one the largest. Proboscis 

 short, hardly projecting beyond the palpi. Legs with all the 

 tibife wide and fiat, like those of the ordinary hive-bee {Apis 

 niellifera L.), with fringes of black hairs on each side, the hind 

 tibiae being largest, not, however, concave as in the bee. Wings 

 with all the posterior cells open and the anal cell closed ; no 

 appendix. 



MeLISSOMORPHA INDIANA, Sp. n. 



The single specimen on which this genus is founded is a 

 marvellously close imitation of Apis dorsata F. : when placed near 

 the latter it has a wonderfully general resemblance to it, though 

 away from all the natural surroundings. The colouring and shape 

 of the abdomen distinguish it and, of course, the absence of the 

 second pair of wings. 



The type is a female from Rungaroom, 7000 feet, 7 miles 

 from Darjeeling, April 1900 {Col. Bingham). 



Black. Face brown, with black pubescence and some golden 

 hairs intermixed. Forehead long, equal in width, rather broad, 

 black with brown tomentum and black pubescence and some 

 golden hairs ; the vertex is shining black, protuberant, with three 

 large reddish-brown ocelli, thence the forehead slopes down- 

 wards to the antennse, which are reddish brown, the third joint 

 being darker; they are long and slender, the first joint nearly twice 

 as long as the second, both with black pubescence, the third 

 joint with the first division as long as the other five, which are 

 short and equal in size, with the excejDtion of the last one, which 

 is longer and ends in a point. Palpi yellowish, long, the first joint 

 short, stout ; the second long, curved, ending in an obtuse point ; 

 the pubescence is black. Abdomen long : the second segment 

 slightly broader than the rest ; the first and second segments blight 

 fulvous, with yellow pubescence, the remaining segments opaque, 

 black ; the third and fourth with a narrow fringe of yellow pubes- 

 cence on the posterior borders, otherwise the pubescence is black ; 

 the under side similar ; the hairs on the sides of the abdomen are 

 black on the black segments, on the second segment yellow, with 

 the exception of a tuft of black hairs towards the under side. Legs 

 dark reddish brown, the front ones blacker ; all the tarsi pale 

 yellow, the pubescence black, some yellow hairs on the side of the 

 tarsi which are black at their apices ; the pulvilli large, the claws 

 long. Wings rich brown in colour, hyaline at the extreme base, 

 and nearly so on the posterior border ; the brown becomes fainter 

 at the apex, being most intense round the stigma and in the centre 

 of the wing ; veins yellowish brown, the first longitudinal vein 

 black, thickened except at its base. 



Haltei-es yellowish, the knob brown. Length 17 millim. 



