2 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 1^ \TIONAL MUSEUM vol. 77 



(which resembles a bee, with a pollen-collecting brush of hairs on 

 each posterior tibia). The abruptness with which important struc- 

 tural parts change from species to species renders the definition of 

 genera almost impossible in this tribe, as almost every species offers 

 sufficient characters to render generic separation plausible for the 

 extremist. 



An almost universal character of this tribe is the large eyes, espe- 

 cially the lower lobes, which in the males are nearly contiguous in 

 front, but even this character disappears in a few species. The head 

 is generally elongate below the eyes, but this character exists in some 

 of the other tribes of Cerambycidae. The pronotun is cylindrical or 

 ovate and unarmed at the sides. The antennae are almost always 

 more or less serrate from the sixth joint, and the intermediate joints 

 are armed with setae on their inner margins. The prosternal process 

 is alwaj^s present between the anterior coxae, although it is very 

 narrow in a few species, and the episterna of the metasternum are 

 alv\^ays triangular and very broad in front. 



The adults, whose short elytra and strongly developed membranous 

 wings permit them to fly swiftly, frequent flowers in company with 

 the Hymenoptera, which many of them resemble. 



ODONTOCERA FASCIATA (Olivier) 



Necydalis fasciata Oliviek, Entomol., vol. 4, gen. 74, 1795, no. 9, p. 10, pi. 1, 



fig. 9. 

 Odontocera vitrea Sesville, Ann. Soc. Ent. France, vol. 2, 1833, pp. 547-548. 

 Odontocera chrysosone White, Cat. Col. British Museum, pt. 8, 1855, p. 192, 



pi. 5, fig. 5. 



This species was originally described by Olivier (1795) from 

 South America. Serville (1833) redescribed the same species from 

 Cayenne under the name of vitrea and placed it as the first species in 

 his new genus Odontocera^ and White (1855) redescribed it from 

 the Amazon under the name of chrysozone. 



This species seems to have a rather wide distribution. Bates ^ 

 writes that it is generally distributed throughout the Amazons, and 

 is not uncommon in the dry season at sweet-smelling flowers. Like 

 all the other species among the beautifully varied and interesting 

 little creatures of this tribe, it flies nimbly from flower to flower, 

 deceiving the eye of the beholder by its strong resemblance to a 

 wasp. A large series has been examined by the writer and scarcely 

 any variations were observed except in size. P. J. Darlington, jr., 

 reared examples of both sexes from the dead wood of Triplaris 

 species at Rio Frio, near Santa Marta, Colombia, during M.a.j, 1928. 

 James Zetek reared it in numbers from avocado branches collected at 

 Summit, Canal Zone, during 1927, and Ferd. Nevermann collected 



1 Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1870, p. 324. 



