186 
hymenoetera. 
colours are always warning, striking and vivid, red and black predo¬ 
minating with white and golden spots or bands on the abdomen. The 
males are larger, up to half an inch in length, coloured in black and 
red, the wings usually smoky, the abdomen commonly red. The 
colouring is less conspicuous than that of the females and is perhaps a 
milder form of warning colouration. 
The family practically consists of one genus, Mutilla. There is, 
however, the peculiar insect Apterogyna mutilloides, Sm., a species likely 
to puzzle any but a close student of this 
group. This insect has, in both sexes, a 
constriction between both the first and 
second, and the second and third seg¬ 
ments ; the winged male has a peculiar 
upturned spine at the apex of the ab¬ 
domen and the venation of the wings is 
much reduced not extending to the 
outer margin. The insect is not com¬ 
mon but is striking and deserves men¬ 
tion. It is one of the few insects found 
in the sandy wastes of some parts of 
North India and is also known from 
Barrackpore. Of Mutilla, some 120 species are described in the Fauna 
of India; as, however, the males of some species only are known, and 
the females of' some, and as these could probably be paired off if we 
knew more, the number of species may be exaggerated. The discri¬ 
mination of these species is by the colour markings, which are 
extremely constant, and the student should consult the key in the 
Fauna of India volume. 
Mutilla .—Is one of the insects far more common and well repre¬ 
sented in the hot plains than in the hills. The active females are to be 
found everywhere in moist as in very dry surroundings; the limited 
distribution assigned to so many species is due simply to the fact that 
in so few places have they been collected, though where they have been 
collected many species have been found. Anyone who observes closely 
the insect fauna of our fields is sure, sooner or later, to witness the mat¬ 
ing of Mutillids. It varies in detail with the species; those seen by the 
Fig. 101.— Mutilla kegia 
FEMALE. 
