VOLUCELLA. 



53 



23. Volucella ? 



Hab. Guatemala, Cubilguitz in Vera Paz (Champion). 



A single male specimen from Cubilguitz shows a remarkable resemblance to 

 V. tympanitis in almost everything, except as regards the colour of the wings and 

 W The conspicuous brown spot at the tip of the wings is entirely wanting, and 

 the stigmatic spot is smaller ; the tibise and tarsi are largely brown ; the latter are 

 yellowish at the base, blackish at the tips ; the scutellum is more impressed at the tip, 

 and the brown spot is darker ; and the black bands on the abdominal segments are 

 narrower. The species is certainly distinct. 



24. Volucella ? 



Hab. Panama, Bugaba 800 to 1500 feet (Champion). 



Two specimens from Bugaba, male and female, bear a remarkable resemblance to 

 V. musta, Willist., from Brazil, and were, at first sight, deemed identical. A more 

 careful examination, however, discloses important differences. The third joint of the 

 antennse is longer and more slender; there are no black spots on the hypo- (not 

 " meso-") and sternopleurse, the thorax being entirely yellow, save the mesonotum, 

 which (except the lateral margins) is deep violet-black ; the second abdominal segment 

 has a broader hind margin ; and the third and fourth segments are black, save a large 

 lateral spot *. Both species, like the preceding one (no. 23), are conspicuous for the 

 brown- or blackish-tipped scutellum, which is impressed before its apex and has the 

 bristles separated at the tip by a broad interval. That either this or V. musta is 

 conspecific with V. vaga, Wiedem., which must resemble them in markings, is doubtful. 

 Apart from the fact that both species have the marginal cell briefly petiolate, the colour 

 is yellow and not at all greenish. That one or the other may be referable to V. parva, 

 Rondani, is possible. 



25. Volucella pallens. 



Volucella pallens, Wiedem. Aussereur. zweifl. Ins. ii. p. 204 1 ; Willist. Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. xv. 

 p. 275 2 . 



Volucella sexpunctata, Loew, Wien. ent. Monatschr. v. p. 38 8 ; Centur. vi. no. 37, in Berl. ent. 

 Zeitschr. 1865, p. 151*; Willist. Synopsis N.-Am. Syrphidae, p. 141, t. 6. f. 2 5 . 



Hab. United States, Florida 5 . — Guatemala, Duefias (Champion). — South Ameeica, 

 Brazil 1 2 ; West Indies, Cuba 3 4 . 



* Since -writing the above I have found an additional female example, in which the black of the dorsum is 

 much narrower, there is a black spot on the sternopleurse, and the yellow has a somewhat greenish cast. T 

 much suspect that the Vera Paz insect ( Volucella, no. 23), notwithstanding the entire absence of the strikingly 

 deep metallic colour of the thorax, belongs to the same species. 



