468 MR. R. E. TURNER ON [May 12, 



Luzon, though a S.-American species. The species in the British 

 Museum which is identified as nitidiventris Spin., rightly in my 

 opinion, though somewhat resembling Smith's species, has the 

 petiole much longer and the clypeus different. 



Hab. Aru (Wallace); Mackay to Cape York {Turner). 



A common species in North Queensland. 



Sphex gilberti, sp. n. 



5 . Clypeus convex, triangularly flattened from the middle to 

 the apex, the apical margin very feebly and narrowly emarginate 

 in the middle, the length equal to about three-quarters of the 

 breadth at the apex ; sparsely and rather coarsely punctured, with 

 a feeble longitudinal carina from the base not reaching the middle, 

 very sparsely clad with long, stiflF, black hairs, the sides in some 

 lights showing silvery reflections on very short, fine pubescence. 

 Front clothed with very short, fine pubescence, silvery below the 

 base of the antennae, golden above, with very sparse, long black 

 hairs above the base of the clyj)eus ; the vertex bare, opaque, and 

 almost smooth. Antenna? twice as far from the eyes as from 

 each other ; the first joint of the flagellum very short, the second 

 and first together about equal in length to the third and fourth. 

 The inner margins of the eyes almost parallel, converging slightly 

 on the vertex ; the posterior ocelli are neai'er to each other than 

 to the eyes. Pronotum slightly depressed below the level of the 

 mesonotum, veiy steejDly sloped anteriorly, opaque and smooth, 

 the posterior margin with very short silvery pubescence. Thorax 

 opaque, very finely and closely punctured ; the mesonotum slightly 

 depressed anteriorly in the middle and with an obscure longi- 

 tudinal sulcus on each side above the tegulse ; the scutellum flat, 

 with a very faint longitudinal line in the middle ; postscutellum 

 transversely depressed at the base ; the mesopleurpe subopaque 

 and very shallowly punctured. Median segment opaque, spai-sely 

 punctured, with sparse, stiflf, blackish hairs ; an obscure longitu- 

 dinal sulcus from the base to the apex, the dorsal surface bordered 

 by a very narrow shallow sulcus ; a deeper and broader sulcus, in 

 which are regular transverse sti^ife, on the metapleurfe from the 

 stigma to the posterior angle. Abdomen shining, sparsely and 

 very finely punctured ; the epipygium coarsely punctured, with 

 sparse and very long black hairs, and convex ; the petiole not 

 quite equal in length to the third joint of the posterior tarsi. 

 Tarsal ungues with two small teeth near the base ; the spines of 

 the anterior tarsus long. The length of the third cubital cell on 

 the radial nervure is about equal to the distance of the first 

 transverse cubital nervure from the stigma ; the first recurrent 

 nervure is received at about one-fifth from the apex of the second 

 cubital cell, the second at two-fifths from the base of the third 

 cubital cell. 



Black ; the abdomen steel-blue. Wings flavo-hyaline, broadly 

 pale fusco-hyaline at the apex ; nervures ferruginous. 



Length 26-28 mm. 



