162 Rev. F. D. Morice on the 6th $ ventral segment 



species as not to mislead later students. Hence the 

 synonymy of the Group has long been in great confusion, 

 and in several cases that confusion seems to me to be rather 

 increasing than diminishing, in spite of all attempts (even 

 the most recent) to clear it up. 



As to the definition of the admica-Growp, the following 

 diagnosis, founded mainly on the works of Schmiedeknecht 

 and Ducke, represents, I believe pretty completely, the 

 views on this subject now generally received, as far as $ 

 characters are concerned. 



<$ . Corpus nigrum hand metallicum, fulvo vel pallido mediocriter 

 pilosum. Abdominis segmenta dorsalia anteriora apicibus plus 

 minusve pallido fimbriatis ; sextum lateribus dentatis sinuatisque ; 

 septimum subquadrate productum. apice nee dilatato, nee spinoso, nee 

 profunde emarginato. Segmenta ventralia quinque semper apparent, 

 marginibus omnium fere simplicibus (nunquam profunde excisis nee 

 acute productis), omnia mutica (tuberculis, etc. nullis) saepius tamen 

 ante apicem transverse subcallosa. 



Clypeus productus margine apicali crenulato. Antennae nonnullis 

 saltern articulis plerumque aliquo modo deformatis, vix unquam 

 simpliciter cylindricis. 



To these characters — among which those of the ventral 

 segments are perhaps the most important — I would pro- 

 pose, on the strength of my recent investigation, to add 

 the following — 



$ . Segmentum ventrale sextum quinto obtectum, magna parte et 

 praesertim appendice conspicua apicali membranaceum ; septimum 

 propter emarginaturam apicalem magnam bilobatum ; octavum parte 

 apicali lata, emarginaturam septimi fere totam implente, lateribus 

 paralletis, apice et in medio plerumque membranacea. Genitalia 

 sagiltis latissimis, subfalcates ; stipitum parte apicali tenuissime 

 elongata, subcylindrica — apicibus ipsis plerumque evidenter inflexis. 



For the 7th and 8th ventral segments, see Fig. 20 ; for 

 the genitalia, Fig. 21. 



I believe that some of these latter characters should 

 have at least as much weight as those given above in 

 determining the true limits of the Group, if, as seems 

 likely, it be a " good " one. 



It does not fall within the scope of this paper to deal 

 with £ characters, but the universally pale scopa (white or 

 grey) may be mentioned as among the most obvious. 



