410 THE SUDAN 
(i latifasciata , Palm.); perhaps it is the insect represented in Fig. 27 
of Savigny’s Plate xv. 
On the river bank to the east of the town, beyond the water¬ 
works, I took a male of Scolia erythrocephala, Fabr., a handsome 
insect, black with yellow-ringed abdomen, and pnrple-tipped wings, 
with base and costa ferruginous. On the other side of the town I 
took a female Scolia very similar, though lacking ferruginous on the 
wings, which Mr. Morice thinks may be a variety of the last, 
but possibly a new species. In the same locality as the last I 
got a small female Scolia , a greyish insect with a yellow abdomen, 
which Mr. Morice says is quite unlike any species known to him. 
Of Elis senilis I brought home five males, varying greatly in size, 
some were taken on Tecoma stans, a yellow-flowered tree of the 
Natural Order Bignoniaceae, others on Calotropis near the rifle ranges. 
The Sphegidae were numerously represented. The only Ammophila 
that I met with at Khartum was a solitary female of gracillima , 
Tasch. Of the handsome black, yellow-legged, long-waisted Sceliphron 
spiri/ex, Linn., I took one at Khartum, and Mrs. Longstaff another 
in the train at Mut Mir Station on the Sudan Kailway; it also 
occurred at Luxor; my specimens are all females. Philanthus 
coardatus and variegatus , Spin., were both abundant towards Mogran, 
males greatly predominating. Other abundant small Sphegids were 
Cerceris albicinda, Klug, 28 2 9, and C. subimpressa, Schlett., 24 <3, 
2 9; 0. annexa , Kohl, was not so common, only 4 8 and 1 9 being 
taken. The great majority of these small Sphegids (as well as of 
Chrysids and Flies) was obtained by sweeping the white fluffy 
Amarantaceous Aerva , but a few were obtained from the Boragineous 
Arnebia. The large Bees and Wasps, on the other hand, frequented 
Tecoma stans , Acacia , and ParJcinsonia, though a few occurred at 
Calotropis. 
Of Bembex lusca , Spin., I secured one of each sex, of B. mediter¬ 
ranean Handl., three males, one was taken on Aerva , one near Burri, 
where, so far as I know, that plant did not grow. Of the fine large 
Sphex umbrosus , Chrst., a black-bodied insect with clear wings (save 
at the base), a male specimen was taken to the west of the town. In 
the same locality, on a small umbellate weed, I took a male Tachytes, 
a striking insect with a testaceous abdomen and dark borders to the 
wings. Mr. Morice thinks this may be the male of superbiens, 
Morice, the description of which will shortly appear in the Trans¬ 
actions of the Entomological Society; he compares it with monetaria , 
Smith, from India. A male Oxybelus taken at Tecoma flowers bears 
the label: “A very fine species unknown to me.—F.D.M.”; of 
