570 Annals of the South African Museum. 



about the middle of the sides. The thorax is more elosely rugulose- 

 punctate and less shining than the head and abdomen, and is about 

 as high as wide ; the pronotum is very narrow, and the mesonotum 

 projects over it a little. The epinotum is steep, feebly convex, the 

 dorsum and declivity not clearly delimited. The scale is small and 

 strongly inclined forwards. The abdomen is sparsely rugulose-punctate 

 and about as large as the thorax, . . . The wiugs ai*e large, almost 

 hyaline, nervures brown, the anterior wing with 1 cubital cell, but 

 without a closed discoidal-cell. . . ." 



9 . I omit Emery's description of this sex, as it is too short to be 

 of any value for purposes of identification. 



Var. validiuscula, Emery. 

 Ann. Mus. Civ. Genoa, vol. 18, p. 602, £ , 1897. 



£ . 2 - 8-3 - 8 mm. Jet black, the tarsi and flagellum brown, the 

 tibiae and femora brownish-black, the scape ochreous-yellow with the 

 apical 3rd or 4th brownish. Sometimes the legs and flagellum are 

 paler, and the head more or less brownish-black. The chief distinc- 

 tion between this variety and the type of the species lies in the 

 greater length of the scape, which extends beyond the back of the 

 head by almost half its length, and by the pilosity, which is much 

 longer, coarser (more bristly) and more abundant, particularly on 

 the pronotum and back of the head. The epinotum is as a rule less 

 flat above, being very shallowly excavated in the middle almost to its 

 base, and the lateral cones more divergent and larger. Mesonotum 

 as long as wide, rarely so short as in the type-species. 



I refer to this variety a large number of specimens derived from 

 different parts of South Africa. Some of these exhibit a slight 

 amount of variation in minor details, such as the sculpture and degree 

 of opacity of the meta- and epinotum, and the pilosity. 



$ . 4 - 6-5 mm. Dark brown, the head and thorax almost black, 

 legs, basal half of the scapes and flagellum paler brown, the tarsi 

 and mandibles ochreous. Pubescence dense, very fine, adpressed 

 and of a pale greyish-yellow ; the pilosity composed of short, 

 yellowish hairs, present only on the abdomen and clypeus. Head 

 and mesonotum very finely aud fairly closely punctured, the scutellum 

 rather sparsely punctured. Epinotum closely striato-rugulose, trans- 

 versely so on the declivity. Head and thorax with a very slight gloss, 

 almost dull. Abdomen dull, microscopically punctate-rugulose. 

 Head subtriangular, as long as wide, the posterior angles widely 



