No. XVI.— FOSSORIAL HYMENOPTERA FROM THE SEYCHELLES AND OTHER ISLANDS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. By Rowland E. Turner, F.Z.S., F.E.S. (Communicated by Prof. J. Stanley Gardiner, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S.) Read 19 January, 1911. The fossorial Hymenoptera of the expedition to the Seychelles and Aldabra (1908 — 9) have been handed to me by Mr Scott for identification. Those from the Seychelles are very few in number, only including thirteen species. Several of these have doubtless been imported, such as the two species of Sceliphron and Ampulex compressa. Of the ten remaining species one, Sphex umbrosus, is wide ranging ; three are identical with Madagascar species, one with a Mauritius species, and five only are peculiar ; two of these last belong to the genus Crabro, two to Pison, and one to Notogonia. But it is not unlikely that some even of these have been imported, though not yet recorded from elsewhere, the habits of Trypoxylon and Pison, which often make their nests in holes in wood, rendering their transportation on ships easy. Of the eleven species recorded in this paper from Aldabra and adjacent islands, six are common Madagascar forms, and five are wide-ranging. One common Eastern species obtained in the Chagos Islands is also referred to, namely Sceliphron bengalense ; this makes a total of 25 species from all the islands investigated by the Percy Sladen Trust Expeditions of 1905 and 1908. Fam. Scoliidse. Genus Scolia Fabr. 1. Scolia (Triscolia) hyalinata Sich. Scolia (Triscolia) hyalinata Sichel, Sauss. et Sich. Spec. gen. Scolia, p. 53, 1864, $. Localities. Cosmoledo and Astove, 1907 (H. P. Thomasset) ; Aldabra, 1908, 1 $ (J. C. F. Fryer). Described from Madagascar. The male has the wings clear hyaline and the abdomen faintly glossed with blue, but otherwise only differs from the female by the usual sexual characters. 47—2
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