LESTES LUCRETIA. Thorace fusco vittis pallidis, abdomine coeruleo
longissimo; alis reticulatis nubilâ apicali. (Long. Corp. 6 unc. Expans.
Alar. 5 unc.)
SYN. Libellula Lucretia, _Drury_, _App. vol._ 2.
Agrion linearis, _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ 2. 388. 5. _Sulzer Hist. Ins. t._ 24.
_fig._ 1.
HABITAT: Cape of Good Hope, _Dr. Fothergill_ (_Drury_). India, _Dr.
Fothergill_ (_Fabricius_).
Eyes very large and globular, projecting as it were from the head, and
placed at a distance from each other. Antennæ rather long and distinct,
resembling a small fibre issuing from a thick stalk. Ocelli distinct.
Thorax probably dark blue when the insect was living, but being now
faded, and appearing of a dead black, it is also striped with white on
the sides. Wings reticulated and transparent, the superior being tipped
with white, and the inferior having a small black streak on the anterior
edges, near the tips. Abdomen uncommonly long, being five inches and a
half, and of a dark shining mazarine blue. Legs remarkably short for the
size of the insect.
"In the 4th volume of Seba's Museum, Tab. 68, are two figures somewhat like
this (being the only ones I ever saw in any author) but are entirely
different; the extremities of all the wings being tipped with black, and
the bodies consisting of many more articulations than this; the eyes also
are not so large and globular, and the feet are shorter."--_Drury._
{98}XYLOCOPA LATIPES.
Plate XLVIII. fig. 2.
ORDER: Hymenoptera. SECTION: Mellifera. FAMILY: Apidæ.