RECLASSIFICATION OF MICROG ASTERINI 251 



This is a highly aberrant species though related, I think, to the Philippine species 

 of the xanthaspis-group that I have keyed on page 242. It departs from the pattern 

 of these species radically in the almost total suppression of sculpture on the thorax. 

 On size and colour alone, it is a striking species. 



The SCOTICA -Group 



Face dull, rugose-punctate. Vertex with obvious but indefinite sculpture. Ocelli in a low 

 triangle, the transverse, posterior tangent to the anterior ocellus slightly cutting the posterior 

 pair. Disc of scutellum strongly, closely punctate. Fropodeum rugose all over and with 

 strongly emphasised medial keel. Areolet large, virtually triangular (Text-fig. 314) ; vannal 

 lobe with distinct hair-fringe throughout. Inner spur of the hind tibia very long, fully three 

 quarters as long as the hind basitarsus. Tergite 1 varying from more or less parallel-sided to 

 triangularly widened behind ; strongly rugose and with medial furrow. Ovipositor sheath with 

 or without modified setae at tip. 



I know three species from Europe and there are two N. American species in the 

 British Museum. I include these American species in the key in order to show as 

 wide a range of specific differences as possible within the group definition given above. 



Key to Species 

 Females 



1 Mesoscutum strongly shining, very coarsely, confluently punctate, more especially 



along the course of the notaulices ; hind coxa black, very coarsely rugose ; costad 

 abscissa of the basalis fully one third as long as the mediad abscissa. 



Tergite (2 + 3) sometimes pale apically ; wings decidedly smoky ; disc of scutel- 

 lum becoming almost polished medially and here with a few large, well separated 

 punctures ; furrow between scutellum and mesoscutum deeper, wider and more 

 strongly costate than in the other species of the group ; 1st abscissa of the discoid- 

 eus as long as the 2nd ; spines of the outer side of the hind tibia finer and sparser 

 than in the other species, the tibia hence having a much less prickly appearance ; 

 tergite 2 coarsely striate-rugose, more than twice as wide as long and with hardly a 

 trace of a discrete medial field ; tergite 3, at least over its medial surface, almost as 

 strongly rugose as 2 ; ovipositor sheath with 3-4 thickened hairs beneath at apex 



meges sp. n 



Switzerland: Valais, Les Hauderes, Alp du Zate, 6-8000 ft., 10-20. vi. 1935, 1 $, 

 the TYPE, (J. & R. Benson). Austria: S. Tyrol, Radein, 1 9 ; Loitsch-Krain, 

 1 $. Italy: Trieste, xii.1902, 1 $. Type in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.). 



This species is transitional between the groups of scotica and abdominalis . The 

 shiny, coarsely sculptured mesoscutum, the sparseness of the tibial spines and the 

 form of the setae at the apex of the ovipositor sheath are strongly reminiscent of 

 abdominalis . 

 - Mesoscutum dull by reason of a fine, scaly-reticulate microsculpture between its punc- 

 tures ; hind coxa reddened at least apically, especially beneath ; costad abscissa of 

 the basalis short, not more than one quarter as long as the mediad abscissa, scotica- 

 group s. str. ............. 2 



2 Ovipositor sheath fully three quarters as long as the hind basitarsus ; without 



modified setae at apex. 



Gaster broad, with tergite 1 markedly widened behind and tergite 2 strongly 

 transverse ; ovipositor thin and without trace of an apical constriction (Text-fig. 

 313) ; hind coxa reddish on rather less than apical half and with the pale colour 



