178 



INSECTS OF SAMOA. 



long bristles, and a few much shorter hairs. The prothorax above the base of 

 the front coxae bears 2-3 tiny, downcurved hairs (omitted in fig. 1) instead of 

 the usual upcurved one. So far as I can trace, this combination of characters 

 is unusual in Syneches. 



Table of Species. 



1. (6) Disc of thorax shining black, but uniformly covered with microscopic 



brownish dust ......... 



2. (3) Hind femora not conspicuously pale about base .... alienus, sp. n. 



3. (2) Hind femora conspicuously yellowish on basal third .... 



4. (5) Hind femora with 3-4 long bristles (quite twice as long as femur 



is thick) on not more than apical two-thirds. Pterostigma 



elongate .......... devius, sp. n. 



5. (4) Hind femora with 5-6 shorter bristles (hardly longer than femur is 



thick) extending right to base. Pterostigma almost quadrate . brevispinus, sp. n. 



6. (1) Disc of thorax brightly shining black, microscopic dust limited to 



prescutellar depression, extreme front of thorax, neighbourhood 



of postalar calli, and scutellum . . . . . . sp. indet. 



1. Syneches alienus, sp. n. (Text-fig. 1). 



(J. Head : antennae below middle of head, black, clothed with brownish 

 dust, arista bare. Occiput black, clothed with brownish dust, pubescence on 

 upper part confined to a single postocular fringe, but spreading out in middle 

 on to the more convex portion of occipital region. Proboscis tawny ; palpi dark. 



Thorax black, slightly shining from all points of view in spite of brownish 

 dust ; corners of humeri and postalar calli yellowdsh. Multiserial acrostichals 

 and uniserial dorsocentrals short and dark, not much longer than third antenna! 

 joint ; a pair of strong dorsocentral bristles in front of prescutellar depression, 

 a diagonal row of three notopleural, a smaller postalar and a pair of strong 

 scutellar bristles. 



Abdomen coloured and dusted like thorax, with, in addition to the numerous 

 short dark hairs, long bristly hairs on basal side margins of first segment and on 

 hind margin at sides of other segments, becoming successively shorter towards 

 tip of abdomen. Hypopygium small and inconspicuous. 



Legs very dark tawny, hind pair almost black, front and middle femora 

 not quite so dark, front and middle tibiae and tarsi still less so, conspicuously 

 clothed with brown pubescence and with following bristles : a very long, strong, 

 anterodorsal bristle at basal third of middle tibia, a shorter one behind at 

 middle, at tip a posteroventral spur of similar size and a shorter anteroventral 

 one. Hind femora with three long, anteroventral bristles on middle half (basal 



