102 Hugh Scott: H. Sauter's Formosa- Ausbeute. Nycteribiidae. 



while on the 4 th they are present in small number in some specimens 

 and absent in others; whereas according to Kolenati both tergites 

 should be bare. In the Formosan <J<J the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tergites 

 all bear short bristles on their discs, which is a character of pedi- 

 cularia. In the length of the anal segment I can detect no great 

 difference in the two forms, and this also is sometimes deceptive, 

 the apparent length varying greatly according to the degree of 

 extension of the abdomen. The number of the short bristles on 

 the discs of sternites 3 and 4 appears to be variable : in two British 

 cJcJ of blasii they extend across the discs of both sternites, but in 

 one of the specimens they are very scanty in the middle of the 

 4th. In the number of the short Borstenstacheln" on the hind 

 margin of the 4th sternite there certainly appears to be a difference 

 between the British examples of blasii and the German and Algerian 

 pedicularia, the number being much greater in the latter, but in 

 the Formosan specimens the number varies greatly, and I have 

 counted 7, 9 and 11 in three different which numbers are all 

 intermediate between those given by Kolenati for the two forms, 

 showing that this character is not always constant. 



Turning to the $ abdomen: the shape of the 2nd tergite and 

 the nature of its posterior marginal bristles are the best characters 

 I have found for distinguishing the two forms. But even here the 

 Algerian ?? present some difficulty, for though in all other respects 

 they conform to pedicularia, yet the middle part of the hind margin 

 of the 2nd tergite approaches a little to the form found in blasii. 

 The Formosan all have this 2nd tergite decidedly of the pedi- 

 cularia-iorm, i. e. more trapezoidal, not produced into a Munt 

 shield-like shape in the middle behind, and with the marginal 

 bristles forming a more even row, the proportion of longer bristles 

 being more, so that often only one shorter one (instead of several) 

 Stands between every two longer ones. The presence or absence 

 of longer bristles on the hind margin of the connexivum repre- 

 senting the 3rd tergite is not in my opinion a good character. 

 In some at any rate of the named specimens of both blasii and 

 pedicularia the most posterior bristles on the connexivum are 

 somewhat longer than those in front. The presence or absence 

 of a few short bristles on the posterior part of the middle of the 

 disc of the 4th sternite does not seem to be a good character; in 

 at least one British $ of blasii they are present where they ought 

 to be absent, while in the Formosan they are absent where 

 they ought to be present. In the marginal bristles on the 4th, 

 5th, and 6th sternites there is a slight difference between the 

 Formosan specimens and the British $2 of blasii. In the blasii 

 the short bristles form an irregulär row a little in front of the long 

 ones: in the Formosan the Separation into two rows is less 

 evident, the two tending to coalesce into a single row of long and 

 short bristles, and having a more even appearance. 



