CLASSIFICATION OF THE ASCALAPIIIBJE. 243 



J^^yes with the divisions equal. 



Thorax very densely and longly villose. 



Abdomen short ; rather slender in the 6 and without appendices ; 



shorter and very obese in the 2 . 

 Legs with the spurs of the posterior tibisB somewhat exceeding 



the first two tarsal joints. 

 Rah. Tropical and South America. 



At first sight a very strongly marked genus, characterized by 

 its ample and subtriangular wings, the anal portion of the pos- 

 terior pair being profoundly sinuate in the S ; but at least one 

 species (I believe, the typical Asc. surinamensis of Fabricius) shows 

 an affinity with Ulula : the tibial spurs are certainly shorter than 

 in that genus, but not to the extent indicated by Eambur, who 

 says "aussi longs que les deux premiers articles;" to my eyes 

 they appear fully as long as the first three joints : the club of 

 the antenna? is more clongately oval tlian in Ulula, and very 

 coucave above ; the base of these members scarcely furnished with 

 verticillate hairs. 



Species. 

 Much confusion has existed in the synonymy ; and Hagen 

 (Hemerob. Synop. Synonym.) has attempted to overcome this 

 by grouping several names as synonyms of one species, C. suri- 

 namensis ; but I believe that all previous writers have failed in 

 identifying the true Fabrician species of that name, and that at 

 least six distinct species exist in collections : — 



"^ 1. C. VULPECULA, Burm. (Ascal. vulpecula, Burm., op. oit. p. 1001, 

 J. — A. alopecinus, Burm. Handb. ii. p. 1000, $ .—A. surinamensis*, 

 Gu6rin, Icon. p. 387, pi. Ixii. f. 3, nee Fab. $ .— C. surinamensis, Ramb. 

 N^vrop. p. 360, text, part.— A. garrulus, JFalk. Cat. Brit. Mus. Ne- 

 urop. p. 441, c?.— A. litigiosus. Walk. op. cit. p. 441, $.) Caput 

 thoraxque supra densissime rufescenti-villosa, hie supra macula parva 

 mediana fusca notatus, infra fuscescente-villosus, Antennaj rufo- 

 fuscse ; elava vel supra solum, vel omnino, ochracea. Pedes flavidi ; 

 tibiis basin versus extus indistincte fusco-semicinctis. Abdomen 

 fuseo-nigrum, supra rufo-maculatura. Alse amplse, inaequales, paUide 



* Baron De Selys Longchamps, in the ' Compte Rendu ' of the Meeting of 

 the Soci4t6 Entomologique de Belgique, held on the 6th May, 1871, adopts 

 " brasiliemis," Guerin, for this species; but I cannot admit this name, because 

 Gu^rin distinctly states in his ' Iconographie ' that "brasiliensis" was a printer's 

 error for " surinamensis," and occurs on the Plate in some copies only ; in the 

 text the name is always printed " surinamensis." 



