CO885-(19-20) — Page 493

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PLEC.O. 885

20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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venter dark with pale median-areas. Legs deep ochreous, clothed with black scales with violet reflections, the first and second fore tarsals white; the first, second, and third in the mid legs, also the base of the metatarsi; in the hind legs the base of the metatarsi are faintly white, and the greater part of the first tarsal. Wings normal, the supernumerary a long way in front of the mid cross-vein; the posterior much longer than the mid, a little nearer the apex of the wing and sloping backwards.

Length: 8 mm.

Habitat: Obuasi.

Time of capture: 20, vi., '07.

Observations: Described from a single female, perfect except that the head is rubbed. It is near T. Marskallii, but can at once be told by the marked leg banding. by the more violet abdomen, the latter being coppery at the apex.

Taken upon the flowers of a climbing plant on the edge of the railroad, about a mile north of Obuasi. Only seen before 9 a.m.

Toxorhynchites Marshallii, Theobald.

(Mono. Culicidæ, III., p. 121, 1903.)

One female and two males. Taken, at Obuasi, in hospital ward, on window, at 5 p.m. (9), and on umbelliferous flower, in bush, at 12 noon (♂'s). 20, vi., '07.

The female resembles the male in all respects, but the tail-tuft is not so large, and the two pale bands on the hind legs are more prominent.

Dr. Graham says: "Specimens were taken upon several occasions upon the flowers of a climbing plant at the edge of the railroad, about one mile north of Obuasi, only before 9 a.m. and only in June "; but in his note on the insects it states 12 noon, and the female at 5 p.m. in the hospital.

Genus: MUCIDUS, Theobald.

(Mono. Culicidæ, I., p. 268, 1901.)

Mucidus Grahamii, nov. sp.

Head rich ochreous brown with a pale border around the eyes and a pale scaled median line; prominent curved golden chætæ projecting over the eyes; palpi densely scaled with outstanding white scales and a few scattered dark ones, about two- thirds the length of the proboscis, which is bright ochreous at the apex with out- standing dark and pale scales at the base. Antennæ with bright ochrêous base.

Abdomen dark Thorax brown' with brown scales and scattered pale ones. brown with basal median and lateral white patches and white and black lateral outstanding scales. Wings with mostly dark scales, a yellow spot on the tip.. Legs ochreous, femora and tibiæ with black outstanding scales, the former with a white band on the apical half and one at apex, tibiæ with broad snow-white apical band: fore and mid metatarsi and tarsi bright ochreous yellow; hind metatarsi black scaled, first three tarsi white with yellow apices, last yellow.

Head bright ochreous brown with numerous dark, thin, upright, forked scales, a broad line of white twisted scales in the middle and a few scattered amongst the dark fork-scales, small snowy scales around the eyes, small flat white ones at the sides, with a few broadly expanded white upright scales; a tuft of long brown chata projecting between the eyes, some dark ones, on the border near the tuft, projecting inwards, and then five curved golden chætæ curved over the eyes on each side; eyes large with brilliant coppery red and turquoise blue reflecting spots; clypeus pale brownish; palpi about two-thirds the length of the proboscis, ochreous. densely clothed with long outstanding snow-white scales, with similar black ones scattered about, except at the tip, and with some black chætæ; proboscis ochreous, with ochreous yellow scales apically, black scales and some white ones outstanding basally; labella dark; antennæ brown, basal segment bright ochreous, with dense white scales on one side and some black chætæ.

Thorax brown with some small golden brown scales, some ochreous ones and longer white ones here and there, very long in front and at the posterior region, at the sides, and traces of two rough lines in front, very indistinet; some brown and golden brown chætæ; dense long dark chætæ over the wing roots; scutellum with long irregular white scales; meťanotum black; pleuræ with "dark brown areas separated by pale scales.

Abdomen dark ochreous and brown with dense, outstanding, dark, broadly expanded scales places, more oppressed in others with basal patches of median

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outstanding scales, which are more numerous on the apical segments, each segment with lateral, basal, outstanding, broadly expanded, white scales and black apical

ones.

Legs ochreous with loosely oppressed and outstanding black and white scales; fore femora with most of the outstanding scales black, white ones at the base, a few in the middle, and many at the apex; fore tibiæ with dark outstanding scales, a broad band of snowy-white ones at the apex; metatarsi and tarsi bright ochreous, the scales much more closely oppressed, some black chætæ; mid legs similar to the fore but with a few black outstanding scales on the metatarsi, and the tibiæ more densely black-scaled; hind legs with the white, apical, tibial band not so broad, the metatarsi with many dark outstanding scales, the first three tarsi with fine, out- standing, pure white scales, except at their apices where the outstanding scales are yellow with a few with dusky tips: most of the last tarsal with yellowish scales, a few white ones in the middle; ungues dark, all equal and uniserrate.

Wings tinged, with black, white, and ochreous scales, the latter most numerous on the costal, sub-costal, and first long vein, and forming a distinct spot just before the apex of the wing, spreading on to the outer branch of the second long vein; the veins mostly clothed with dark scales; the areas of the cross-veins tinged with brown; first sub-marginal cell longer and narrower than the second posterior cell, its base about level with that of the latter, its stem about two-thirds the length of the cell stem of the second posterior cell mostly pale scaled, about as long as the cell; the third long vein close to the second; posterior cross-vein slightly nearer the apex of the wing than the mid: fringe dark, a small pale area at the junction of the third long vein and the costa, a small pale area between the fourth and fifth veins, another between the branches of the latter, and a broad one past the sixth vein; halteres with ochreous stems, slightly fuscous knobs with white scales.

Length: 95 mm.

Habitat: Obuasi.

Time of capture: 12, vi., '07.

Observations: Described from a nearly perfect female, caught on bush path. This is a very distinct Mucidus, noticed at once by Dr. Graham as distinct from M. africana, Theob. The main features are the thin, ochreous, fore and mid meta- tarsi and tarsi, and the white and ochreous hind tarsi: also the long, white-scaled palpi, and the wing fringe with pale spots between the veins. Its general dark appearance and yellow fore and mid feet at once distinguish it.

Dr. Graham in his notes refers to it as taken in dense bush, north of Obuasi, flying over swampy ground in the day time.

Genus STEGOMYIA, Theobald. (Mono. Culicidæ, I., p. 283, 1901) Stegomyia apicoargentea, nov. sp.

Head black with silvery white central spot and white eye-borders; palpi and proboscis deep brown, the former snow-white at apex.

Thorax deep brown with two large, round, silvery white spots and a small anterior median one; prothoracic lobes white, and a small white spot at the base of the wings; pleuræ with white puncta.

Abdomen dusky black, last three segments with basal silvery spots, all the segments with basal, lateral, silvery spots, and the venter with basal white bands.

Fore and mid legs with basal creamy bands to metatarsi and first tarsal; hind with an additional band on the second tarsal, and nearly all the third white; femora of fore and mid legs with a white spot below near apex, apex white; in the hind legs, base of venter white, and also apex and the tibiæ have a white spot beneath near base.

Head clothed with black scales; a median line of white scales, white scales around the eyes and at the back, at the sides some dark, upright, forked scales and black chætæ.

Clypeus and proboscis black; palpi black with snowy-white apical scales; antennæ black, the second segment with black scales. Eyes coppery.

Thorax black with long narrow-curved bronzy scales, a silvery white median patch in front, two silvery spots about the middle, and a small patch on each side in front of the roots of the wings, composed of densely packed spindle-shaped scales, deep brown chatæ over the roots of the wings and behind; scutellum with large

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