92 



Hugh Scott: 



H. Sauter's Formosa=Ausbeute. 

 Nycteribiidae. 



By 



Hugh Scott, M. A., F. t. S., F. E. S., 



(Curator in Entomology in the University of Cambridge, England). 



In the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 

 for 1908 (pp. 359 — 368 and Plate 18) I reported on a small series 

 of Nycteribiidae from the island of Formosa, which had been 

 received from the collector Herr Hans Sauter. I did not then know 

 that this material was only a small sample of Herr Sauter's collec- 

 tion of these insects. But such was the case, and in 1912 at the 

 request of Dr. Walther Horn I undertook to examine the whole 

 of Sauter's Formosan Nycteribiid material in the possession of 

 the Deutsches Entomologisches Museum. The collection consisted 

 of over 100 glass tubes, most of which contained several, and some 

 a large number, of specimens preserved in alcohol, together with 

 over 90 dried specimens. 



The small series reported on in 1908 contained three species: 

 Penicillidia jenynsi, the <J of which was described long ago by 

 Westwood, while the $ was then described and figured by me for 

 the first time: and two other species, described as new under the 

 names Nycteribia (Listropodia) insolita and Nycteribia (Listropodia) 

 sauter i. The large collection which has now been examined con- 

 tains great numbers of these three species, together with smaller 

 numbers of two others [Penicillidia dufouri (Westwood) and 

 Nycteribia (Listropodia) pedicularia Latreille), making 5 species 

 in all. 



The two species described as new in 1908 have now proved 

 to be identical with two described in 1901 by Speiser from Sumatra. 

 Thus N. insolita Scott becomes a synonym of N. allotopa Speiser, 

 and N. sauteri Scott of N. parvula Speiser. It is unfortunate that 

 synonymy is thus increased, but Speiser's descriptions were in- 

 complete and consequently I did not recognise the material 

 before me as identical with his species. Both his species were 

 described only from dried specimens; in the case of N. allotopa 

 only the ventral surface was described, and in that of parvula 

 only one sex (?) was described, and in neither case were 

 figures given. I was further misled by the fact that when I sub- 

 mitted specimens to Dr. Speiser he himself considered both species 

 to be new, which may perhaps have been due to the Formosan 

 material in alcohol appearing very different to the dried original 

 examples. Through the kindness of Dr. R. Gestro of the Museo 

 Civico at Genoa I have now seen the actual types of both species, 

 and the identity of insolita with allotopa and of sauteri with parvula 



