Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1862. Excerpt: ... and small. Front black with a violet, often very bright lustre, immediately above the antennae with a pale copper-reddish spot. The cilia on the inferior orbit pale. The upper side of the thorax often shows violet reflections. The scutellum shining violet, rarely shining black with an indistinct violet lustre. The color of the abdomen is usually more greenish-black. Fore coxae brownish-yellow, near the basis blackened; middle and hind coxse black with brownish-yellow tip. Feet yellowish-red or brownish-red. The extreme tip of the knees blackish-brown and the tarsi from the tip of the first joint black. Sometimes the upper side of the femora is distinctly infuscated. Cilia of the tegulae black. Wings tinged with blackish-gray and with black veins; the convexity of the wings lies before the first quarter of the last segment of the fourth longitudinal vein. Male. Its fore femora are thickened as far as their middle, and on the under side, precisely at the end of this thickening, they are densely bearded with stiff little bristles; the fore tibiae are visibly stouter than in the female, beset on the under side with numerous and erect, on the upper side with less numerous and less erect bristles; fore tarsi with unusually long hairs, especially on their first two joints. The structure of the middle femora is similar to that of the fore femora, though their thickening is less strong and reaches as far as the tip; the thick beard on the under side, formed of short stiff bristles, is thus brought nearer to their end. The middle tibiae are of rather irregular structure; from the basis to about their middle they are distinctly thickened and fringed on the upper side with a few long black bristles, on the under side they are provided with a small tubercle, beset wit...