Genus Megarhinus . 
225 
4. Megarhinus immisericors. Walker. 
Calex Begins. Thwaites. 
the “ Stinging Elephant Mosquito.” 
(Jour. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. iv. p. 91 (1860); et vii. p. 202.) 
(Fig. 28, PL VII.) 
Thorax black, with coppery-green scales and azure-blue ones 
over the roots of the wings. Abdomen bright metallic purple 
and blue, with bronzy, black and yellow caudal tufts, white 
lateral tufts in front. Legs purple, first tarsal joint mostly 
white, mid tarsi with two white bands. 
£. Head covered with flat azure blue metallic scales in 
front, coppery-red and green behind; antennae brown, with 
brown plumes, basal joint nude, steely black, second joint large, 
about equal to the two following, with metallic blue broad scales 
above, pale ones beneath, joints of the flagellum with pale narrow 
bands and flaxen-brown plumes, the verticils arising from the 
middle of the joints ; palpi covered with deep metallic purple 
scales and with some white ones in the two basal joints, last 
joint about one-third longer than the penultimate, the penulti¬ 
mate and antepenultimate nearly equal; proboscis with purple 
and coppery scales. 
Thorax black, densely clothed with coppery-green spindle- 
shaped scales, a patch of broader azure-blue ones over the roots 
of the wings and a few before the scutellum, a dense tuft of 
black bristles over the roots of the wings as well; scutellum 
entirely clothed with flat scales, brown, green and blue in some 
lights, those on the posterior border almost white, forming a 
white line in some lights, bristles black, border of the scutellum 
almost straight; metanotum small, dark brown ; pleurae black, 
with white scales; prothoracic lobes with metallic blue scales. 
Abdomen covered with bright metallic purple and blue 
scales, the sixth and seventh segments with bronzy and black 
lateral tufts, the eighth with golden yellow lateral tufts, small 
tufts of white hairs on the two preceding segments. 
Legs metallic purple, the first tarsal joint almost entirely 
white, just a small dark apex and base. 
Wings with the veins brown, and with metallic, azure and 
purple scales along the costal, sub-costal and first long vein. 
Length .—11 mm. 
Q 
VOL. I. 
