Entomological Society. 



8155 



cific name for the present insect, as there already exists one species of the genus bearing 

 the name flavipes. I propose for it the name of maritima. 



" H. angusticollis, Thorns. In the last edition of Schaum's Catalogue (1862), this 

 insect appears as a distinct species in the third column of p. 24, but further on (first 

 column of p. 25) the name reappears, and in this case is linked with that of H. ravilla, 

 Erichs. I have a specimen before me of the last-named insect, sent by Dr. Kraatz to 

 the British Museum, and likewise a specimen of H. angusticollis,- received by 

 Mr. Crotch from Thomson. With this material, it would appear that 1 was in a 

 favourable position for determining whether the insects are identical or not. Both 

 insects appear to me to be males. Thomson's specimen has the penultimate abdominal 

 segment gently (but still evidently) emarginate, as the describer points out to be the 

 case in the male of his species ; and further this insect agrees perfectly with the two 

 British specimens which I exhibit to the Society, excepting that in these latter the 

 penultimate abdominal segment is more acuminate at the apex, and is truncated. 

 These two specimens then, as I take it, furnish the opposite sex of A. angusticollis. They 

 have the same structure of antennae, with the terminal joint of moderate length; that 

 is, as Thomson says, half as long agaiu as the preceding joint. On the other hand, 

 Erichson describes the terminal joint of the antennae of H. ravilla, ' magno, ovato, 

 precedente triplo fere longiore,' and such is the case in the insect received from 

 Dr. Kraatz. This latter author, however, states that the terminal joint is equal in 

 length to the two preceding joints taken together, so that I am left in uncertainty as 

 to whether the remarkably large terminal joint which I find in the specimen of 

 H. ravilla is constant, — whether, in short, it may not be sexual. In this same specimen 

 the penultimate segment of the abdomen is truncate or most indistinctly emarginate, 

 and the truncated portion is broader than in the English specimens, which I regard as 

 females of H. angusticollis. In other respects, I can discover no differences between 

 the H. angusticollis and the H. ravilla." 



Mr. Waterhouse then communicated the following note, and exhibited (on the 

 part of his son, Mr. Charles Waterhouse) a series of specimens of a species of Homa- 

 lota, which is extremely close to H. analis in its general characters, but which will 

 possibly prove a distinct species : — 



" The specimens were collected recently in the Hammersmith Marshes, in company 

 with H. analis, and my attention was first directed to them through the uniform dark 

 (nearly black) colouring of the body and antennae. Upon examination, I find that 

 the dark insects differ from H. analis in their sexual characters, the male having 

 a very much deeper notch in the upper plate of the penultimate abdominal segment 

 than in the corresponding sex of H. analis, whilst the female has the plate 

 in question truncated at the apex. After the examination of a very large number 

 of specimens of H. analis, I have not been able to detect any decided distinctions in 

 the sexes through the structure of the penultimate abdominal segment; in all it has a 

 largish notch at the extremity in the form of an obtuse-angled triangle ; in some the 

 notch is slightly deeper than in others, but there are individuals presenting inter- 

 mediate conditions. In the penultimate abdominal segment of the darker-coloured 

 insect, the sinus of the upper plate has its depth slightly exceeding its width ; the 

 sides are subparallel, diverging but indistinctly, and the innermost half is nearly 

 semicircular, or we may compare the sinus to the outline of a bluntly terminated cone. 

 The edges of the segment bordering the sinus are margined, — i.e. there is a delicate 

 impressed line immediately within the margin. In H. analis the triangular notch 

 does not show a corresponding impressed line : here the plate is slightly arched, but 

 in the transverse direction only ; whilst in the deeply notched segment of the other 



