A. (Piezotrachelus) magnirostre Wagner. S. Rhodesia: Sebakwe. A. (Piezotrachelus) microcephalum Wagner. A. (Piezotrachelus) opulentum Wagner. A. (Piezotrachelus) schoudeteni Wagner A. (Piezotrachelus) umbratum Wagner. A. (Piezotrachelus) uncipes Wagner. A. (Piezotrachelus) varium Wagner. A. (Piezotrachelus) varium Wagner. GEN. APION Herbst. APION (sbg. RHINAPION L.B.B.) PERINGUEYI, n. sp. Length, 4 mm. (rostr. incl.). Nigrum, glabrum, haud nitidum præsertim in rostro (illo vero apice subnitido). Rostrum subulatum, basi ad latera profunde striatopunctatum, supra punctatum, in medio punctulatum, apice fere leve. Oculi haud prominentes. Tempora breviora. Prothorax subconicus, fortiter atque sat crebre punctatus. Elytra basi carinata, intervallis minutissime biseriatis. Pedes validi. 19. Hab. Mozambique (Rikaka). Rev. H. Junod. This species is evidently allied to A. (Rhinapion) pauxillum L.B.B. from Madagascar, in shape and colouring, but it differs in the greater size, the more superficial interocular furrows, and the punctures which are larger and more closely set. APION HIRTISSIMUM n. sp. Length, 3.2-3.4 mm. Obscure brunneo-rubrum pedibus dilutioribus, haud nitidum, rostri basi, capite, thorace, elytris pedibusque pilis nigris erectis sparse instructis. Caput subconicum, vertice paulo dilatato, fronte Rostrum fere longissimum plana, punctulata. Oculi parvi, modice prominentes. rectum, gracile, subcylindricum, basi incrassatum; (capite cum thorace longius); brevius, crassius (capite cum thorace vix æquilongum). Antennæ ante medium insertæ, gracillimæ, scapo longo, lineari, apice vix incrassato, articulo primo scapo haud latiore, articulis reliquis gracillimis, clava parva. Prothorax subconvexus, post medium coarctatus, lateribus rotundatus, postice attenuatus, dense rudeque punctatus. Elytra convexa, prothoracis basi non nullo latiora, sat elongata, fere parallela, apice obtuse rotundata, striis latis punctis magnis, intertitiis angustis, subcostatis. Femora subglobosa. Tarsi elongati, robustiores, ungulis dentatis. Hab. Cape Colony: Cape Town. APION EXIMIUM n. sp. Length, 5 mm. (rostr. incl.). Cærulæo metallescens, parum nitidum, antennis rostroque nigris, elytris, temporibus femoribusque setis nigris erectis instructis. Caput elongatum, subconicum fronte rugose punctata, rostri basi augustiore. Oculi parvi, parum prominentes. Rostrum modice arcuatum, capite cum thorace brevius, triente basali incrassatum, dein fere subito subcylindricum, apice incrassatum, fere leve, nitidum. Antennæ hispidæ, scapo gracili, apice parum inflato, articulo 1o plus duplo longiore, illo oblongo, 2°-3° elongatis, subæqualibus, 4° breviore, 5° fere quadrato, 6°-7° subglobosis, clava elongata, triarticulata. Prothorax antice et postice coarctatus, lateribus dilatato-arcuatus, convexus præsertim in medio, disco grosse rudeque punctatus, foveola basali lata, profunda. Scutellum parvum, subtriangulo. Elytra oblongo-ovata, triente apicali attenuata, basi thorace multo latiora, humeris rotundata, profunde striato-punctata, intertitiis subconvexis, striis haud latioribus. Femora modice clavata, subtus spina erecta armata. Tibiæ rectæ, sulcatæ. Tarsi robusti, pilis suberectis instructi. Hab. Cape Colony: Cape Town. I am greatly indebted to Herrn Wagner, of Zurich, for the great help given me in the identification of the species of this very intricate genus. 15.-Description of a New or Little Known Species of the Hemerobiida (Order Neuroptera) from South Africa, with Plates VII.-IX. -By L. PÉRINGUEY, D.Sc., F.E.S., Director. SUB-FAMILY MYRMELEONIDES. GEN. PALPARES, Ramb. PALPARES CATARACTÆ, n. sp. HEAD with the whole anterior face pale flavous, whole vertex dark drab or deep fuscous, antennæ wholly black; thorax very robust, width equal to three-fourths of the length, very dark fuscous, nearly black but with four sub-flavescent macules on the mesonotum, and the metanotum more distinctly variegated with yellow; the head is nearly glabrous, but the thorax is clothed with a black erect pubescence turning to flavescent white on the sides and metanotum ; abdomen very long in the ♂, but shorter than the fore wings, even with the clasps included in the total length, and very little more than half the length in the female, flavescent on the centre of the upper side only, otherwise fuscous; genital clasps of the usual curved shape, and as long as the ultimate abdominal segment; legs very bristly and also pubescent, tibial spurs somewhat divaricating and slightly curving downwards; if straight they would reach as far as the third joint. Wings hyaline with fuscous spots, macules, and bands; they are narrower in the male than in the female, with the posterior edge plainly sinuate, about two-thirds of the length, and the basal callus of the median costa is strongly developed and flavescent. In the anterior wings the costal area is regularly spotted with fuscous for more than half the length, maculated thence to the pterostigma which is very little distinct; the basal part of the area is irregularly maculated with fuscous, all the nervules are narrowly infuscate, and there are four much interrupted fuscous cross bands; a supra-basal broadly interrupted in the centre in the ♂, bi-interrupted in the ; an ante-median one somewhat narrow, and almost indistinct towards the hind border in the ; the third one which is set past the middle is reduced to a broad, quadrate patch, and the ante-apical one is also interrupted, and very irregular; hind wings more evenly hyaline and the bands less interrupted, the basal and the ante-median ones do not invade the costal area which the other two do, the first is bi-incised on each side, the second also, but less deeply, and reaches the hind border, the third and broadest of all, encloses two hyaline areas, the fourth is apical, and is speckled at the very apex with a few hyaline dots; along the hind border is a series of black macules, some of which, mostly quadrate, merge into the cross bands. Length of body append. excl. 62 mm.; 49 mm.; width: fore wings expanded 128-146 mm.; hind wings 122-134 mm. Allied to P. moestus, Hagen, but in the latter both wings are much more deeply sinuate in the hind border, the basal cross band of the fore wing is much more indistinct, and in the hind wings the first supra-basal cross band is entirely absent. Hab. Southern Rhodesia (Victoria Falls). H. Fry. PALPARES MOSAMBICUS, n. sp. 3. Head fuscous brown with the epistome and labrum yellow; antennæ somewhat long, entirely black; prothorax fuscous brown but with three lighter patches on the metanotum, clothed with greyish white pubescent hairs, denser on the meso- and metasternum; abdomen yellow on the upper side. Wings of nearly equal size, pale flavous; anterior ones moderately acuminate at apex, with the hind border slightly sinuate at about three-fourths of the length; the costal area is normally divided by simple nervures from the base to about the median part, but from there the nervules are forked in the anterior part; the whole costal space is tessellated with fuscous brown from the base to the pterostigma which is flavous and conspicuous, and there are on each wing four slanting, fuscous brown, diagonal bands; the first is supra-basal, and consists of agglomerated sub-quadrate patches somewhat tessellated and continued on the intervals of the 4-6th nervures as far as the base; the second band reaches from the median nervure to the hind border, and is deeply emarginate outwardly, the third reaches only the centre of the discoidal area and is not quite connected with the median nervule, the fourth begins at the pterostigma, is somewhat ill-defined, and is not distinctly continued beyond two-thirds of the width, the apical part is maculated with light fuscous, very small patches, and the hind border is somewhat broadly tessellated with fuscous; hind wings a little shorter than the anterior, plainly narrowed in the basal part, ampliate at about one-fourth of the length, the discoidal area is hyaline flavescent for the same length, and each bears two broad slopingly longitudinal discoidal bands, the first of which is transversely broadly dilated along the hind border, the dilatation enclosing there two transparent patches, and connected by a narrow ramus with the second discoidal band which is of nearly equal width, but encloses along the hind border a small ovate patch, the third, somewhat triangular band has invaded the whole apical part, but encloses a crescent-shaped hyaline space, and two or three hyaline flavescent spots; the abdomen is one-fifth shorter than the hind wings, the clasps (3) are of the normal shape, and as long as the penultimate segment; the legs are very stiffly and densely bristly, the tibial spurs are as long as the two anterior joints taken together. The nervures are flavescent in both wings, and the fifth and sixth intercostal spaces are tessellated in the disk with light fuscous and white. The colouration of the wings and the disposition of the bands and patches and spots closely resemble that of P. elegantulus, especially on the hind wings, but in the fore wings the apical band is not broadly divided longitudinally in the centre as in P. elegantulus, in which also the nervures of the costal area are not forked at apex except after the pterostigma. Length of body, append. excl. 42 mm.; of fore wings, expanded 42 mm.; hind wings 40 mm. Hab. Mozambique (Lourenço Marques). Howard. PALPARES KARROOANUS, n. sp. Plate VIII., fig. 6. ♂ . Head pale fleshy and having on the vertex a broad fuscous band continued on the thorax; a similar lateral one on the pronotum; on the mesonotum there are on each side of the median fuscous band a narrower one, and outside of it an elongated spot; the head is briefly pubescent greyish in the frontal part, and very briefly setulose in the centre of the vertex; the edges of the strongly constricted pronotum are thickly fimbriate bristly, and the rest of the thorax above and below densely greyish hairy; antennæ completely black; palpi slightly infuscate at tip, spindle-shape, very acute at tip; abdomen sub-rufescent on the upper side, black beneath; appendages of the somewhat long, being nearly equal in length |