3. Sphex aurifrons. S. niger; facie pube aureâ vestitâ, alis flavo-hyalinis apice fuscis, abdomine pilis sericeo-aureis vestito.
Female. Black; the face densely clothed with golden pubescence, the head having a number of scattered long golden-yellow hairs. Thorax thinly covered with long yellow pubescence, which is most dense at the sides of the metathorax; the tibiæ, tarsi, and posterior femora ferruginous; the claw-joint of the tarsi black; the tibiæ and tarsi with black spines; the wings fulvo-hyaline, their apex with a narrow fuscous border, the nervures ferruginous. Abdomen covered with a fine, thin, golden-reflecting pile; the apical margins of the segments rufo-testaceous, the testaceous margin produced in the middle into a triangular shape, most conspicuously so on the segments beneath.
Hab. Aru.
4. Sphex nitidiventris. S. niger; abdomine nigro-cæruleo, lævigato, nitido; alis fuscis.
Female. Length 12 lines. Black; the face with silvery pubescence, and thinly covered with long black hairs; the clypeus with a central longitudinal carina at the base, which terminates at the middle, from whence to the anterior margin is a broad, smooth, shining space. Thorax shining and finely punctured; the metathorax opake and covered with long, loose, black pubescence; the legs shining, the posterior tibiæ with shining grey pile within; wings brown, darkest at their base. Abdomen blue, and very smooth and shining, oblong-ovate; the apical segment vertical.
Hab. Aru.
5. Sphex sepicola. S. niger; facie pube aureâ vestitâ; alis subhyalinis apice fuscis; abdomine nitido.
Female. Length 9 lines. Black; the face densely clothed with golden pubescence, the cheeks with iridescent pile, with a long, loose, scattered pale yellow pubescence on the head and thorax; the mandibles smooth, shining black. The disk of the thorax with an obscure chalybeous tint, shining and finely punctured; the metathorax opake and finely rugose; the wings subhyaline, their apical margins fuscous, the nervures fusco-ferruginous. Abdomen with a slender subelongate petiole, and with a thin, silky, grey pile; the apical margins of the segments narrowly and obscurely rufo-piceous.
Male. Rather smaller than the female, more slender and more pubescent, the pubescence on the face paler.
Hab. Aru.