268 M. W. R. de V. GRAHAM 



Key to European Species 

 (Females) 



i Fore wing (Text-fig. 198) with speculum absent ; postmarginal vein as long as, or very 

 slightly longer than, the marginal vein ; costal cell relatively more hairy. Hind 

 wing with costal cell with an irregular row of hairs extending its whole length 



mucronatus (Thomson) (p. 268) 



- Fore wing (Text-fig. 197) with speculum present ; postmarginal vein distinctly 

 shorter than the marginal vein ; costal cell relatively less hairy. Hind wing with 

 costal cell bare ........ specularis sp. n. (p. 270) 



The male of mucronatus only is known (see p. 269). 



Melancistrus mucronatus (Thomson) comb. n. 

 (Text-figs. 198-200) 

 Tridymus mucronatus Thomson, 1876a : 194-195, $. 



$ (redescription of type). Black ; gaster brown at the base and more or less so on its sides, 

 but possibly faded. Antennal scape testaceous ; pedicellus fuscous, paler beneath ; flagellum 

 fuscous. Coxae black ; the mid and hind ones reddish testaceous apically ; femora and tibiae 

 reddish testaceous, the former infuscate except narrowly at their bases and more broadly at 

 their apices ; tarsi testaceous, the pretarsi brown. Tegulae brown ; wings hyaline, the fore 

 wing with a faint brownish discal cloud which touches the marginal vein ; venation reddish 

 testaceous ; the wings are clothed with brownish hairs, which appear rather golden in some 

 lights. Length 2-55 mm. 



Head slightly broader than the mesoscutum (85 : 80), in dorsal view 2-4 times as broad as its 

 maximum length ; frontovertex where narrowest 0-65 the breadth of the head, therefore nearly 

 four times the breadth of an eye ; temples extremely short ; POL : OOL as 17 : 15, ocelli in a 

 triangle with base 31, height 14-5. Head in front view about 1-4 times as broad as high, 

 subtrapeziform, the vertex moderately arched ; genae converging strongly towards the mouth, 

 but buccate, their outline being distinctly curved ; eyes separated on the vertex by nearly 1-7 

 times their own length, their inner orbits diverging very slightly ventrad ; malar space o-6 

 the length of an eye, malar sulcus distinct. Clypeus about 1 -75 times as broad as high, convex, 

 shiny and nearly smooth except for some piliferous punctures which bear long hairs. Genae 

 compressed, ventrally with a sharp edge or margin which runs outward from the base of the 

 mandibles for a short distance. Eyes nearly 1-2 times as long as broad, with short sparse 

 pubescence. The surface of the head is moderately shiny, more so on the face, finely reticulate, 

 the sculpture lightly engraved, tending to be transverse on the face below the antennal toruli, 

 more longitudinal on the orbital region and genae, intricate on the vertex, which is duller than 

 the rest of the head. Face and frons clothed with long hairs ; vertex thickly clothed with 

 shorter, more bristly hairs. 



Antennae (Text-fig. 200) inserted in a position such that the lower edges of the toruli are 

 slightly above the level of the ventral edge of the eyes ; toruli nearer to each other than to the 

 eyes ; scape slightly shorter than the transverse diameter of an eye, hardly four times as long 

 as broad, not reaching the level of the lower edge of the median ocellus, with numerous hairs 

 dorsally and along its front edge ; combined length of pedicellus and flagellum about 11 times 

 the breadth of the head ; pedicellus about 1-5 times as long as broad ; anelli transverse, the 

 first small, second larger ; funicle cylindrical, its first segment i-6 times the length of the 

 pedicellus and slightly more than twice as long as broad, the following segments decreasing in 

 length, the fifth hardly longer than broad ; clava hardly broader than the funicle, slightly 

 more than twice as long as broad ; hairs of funicle rather thick, rather strongly outstanding. 



Thorax scarcely 1 -5 times as long as broad. Pronotum short, transversely crescentic ; 



