SCOTTISH PHORID& 15 



SCOTTISH PHORID^E, WITH TABLES OF ALL 

 THE BRITISH SPECIES, AND NOTES OF 

 LOCALITIES 



By J. R. MALLOCH. 



DURING the last ten years or so, considerable attention has 

 been given to the study of this family, and, though a great 

 deal remains to be done yet, the amount of knowledge we 

 now possess is sufficient to justify me in placing before 

 Dipterologists a brief outline of the genera and species, with 

 notes of localities, so that should anyone have the necessary 

 time and patience to pursue the study of these minute flies 

 their labours may be lightened. In the generic divisions 

 I have included those sub -genera which I created when 

 I broke up the rather heterogeneous group Phora, Latr. 

 ("Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc.," Glasgow, 1909). I do not intend 

 to deal exhaustively with those species in the large section 

 now known as ApJiiochceta, Brues, as our knowledge of these 

 is not such as to permit of very exact divisions being 

 created, but it may be advisable to separate certain groups 

 so that they may be reduced to a more workable size. 



The Phorida may be at once known from all other 

 Diptera, except the Bibionid genus Scatapse perhaps, by 

 their peculiar neuration. The costal vein extends in very 

 few cases beyond the middle of the wing, is considerably 

 thickened, and generally bears on its anterior surface a pro- 

 jecting fringe of hairs. For the purposes of this paper, and 

 to facilitate reference to Dr. Wood's detailed descriptions of the 

 species in the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine," the other 

 thick veins which join the costal vein at different points in 

 its course are referred to as the first, second, and third thick 

 veins. The second, which looks like a fork of the third, 

 is the radial vein, and in some genera it is absent. The 

 thin veins, which are also of considerable importance in 

 distinguishing species, cross the body of the wing, and are 

 sometimes very inconspicuous. Various writers have tried 

 to place the Phorida* in lists in their ' natural ' position, and 

 the general body of opinion seems to be that their place is 



