Genus Megarhinus. 
237 
11. Megarhinus ferox. Wiedemann. 
Culex ferox. Wiedemann. 
(Aussereurop. Zweifliig. Insect, p. 1, Wiedemann; Dipt. Exot. supp. ii. p. 7, 
Macquart.) 
(Fig. 30, Plate YIII.) 
Thorax bright chestnut-brown with a median azure-blue 
stripe, an azure-blue band laterally and a patch over each wing 
and on the prothoracic lobes; scutellum deep purple in the 
middle, pale azure-blue and pale apple-green on the lateral lobes 
in the 9 1 n0 median azure-blue band in the £, nor is the 
middle o£ the scutellum deep purple; abdomen steel blue, the 
basal segment bright bluish-green, some of the apical segments 
with apical yellow bands; venter and sides partly dull golden 
yellow; anal segments with numerous yellow hairs. Legs 
metallic blue and purple, last two tarsi of the hind legs in 9 and 
£ white and the first two tarsi in the fore legs, but apparently 
not in the £; fore and mid ungues of the $ unequal, the larger 
underrated ; in the 9 equal and simple. 
9 . Head clothed with bright chestnut-brown flat scales, 
with a broad pale blue border round the eyes, with a distinct 
median furrow extending from between the eyes backwards 
across the occiput; antennae brown; basal joint black with 
frosty tomentum, second joint covered with dark brown scales 
about the same length as the third, which with the next few are 
very pale brown ; proboscis with metallic blue, green and coppery 
scales ; the remains of the palpi metallic green coloured, as also 
is the proboscis; eyes black with a coppery tinge. 
Thorax black, densely clothed with rather long, flat, spindle- 
shaped bright brown scales, with a median line of bright azure- 
blue scales, and also azure-blue scales at the sides of the meso- 
thorax and in front, forming a broad border round it; a distinct 
blue patch over the roots of the wings, mixed with some green 
and brilliant golden-brown ones and dense golden-brown bristles ; 
scutellum with the median lobe densely plated with flat deej) 
purple scales, the lateral lobes with pale green and blue scales ; 
border-bristles bright chestnut-brown; metanotum chestnut- 
brown ; pleurae pale brown, with some dense patches of white 
scales. Yiewed in some lights, the thorax looks deep metallic 
green, and in bad specimens the characteristic median blue line 
is absent. 
