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Vol. XXXVI. LONDON, AUGUST, 1904. No. 8 



THE DIPTERA OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

 Second Part. — The Syrphidse. 



BY RAYMOND C. OSBURN, NEW YORK. 



In Part I. of this paper Professor Jas. S. Hine has given a list of the 

 Diptera of British Cohimbia in all the families except the Syrphidos. 

 While connected with the Minnesota University Seaside Station at Port 

 Renfrew, on Vancouver Island, during the summers of 1901 and '02. the 

 present writer paid especial attention, as far as time permitted, to the 

 collection of Syrphids, hence the list of species in this family is much 

 more complete than in other families which were picked up incidentally. 



Port Renfrew is situated on the south-west corner of Vancouver 

 Island, across the Strait of Fuca from Cape Flattery. The forest is 

 unbroken, and the thick, sunless evergreen woods cover everything to 

 the edge of the cliffs and rocks that form the shore, leaving only the 

 merest fringe at the extreme border, where flowering plants may grow to 

 attract Syrphids. A few small sphagnum swamps-and streams let a little 

 light into the forest, and on the flowers growing in such places Syrplu'ds 

 were common. A few species, such as Sericomyia chalcopyga, 

 were found about stagnant pools in woodland. Practically all of the 35 

 species taken here were found along the shore within a mile of the 

 Station. 



Two days were spent about Victoria with favourable results. There 

 are some fine collecting grounds near the city. At Vancouver a couple 

 of hours between the arrival of our boat and the departure of our train 

 yielded a number of species. At Agassiz, 70 miles from the coast, six 

 species were taken in a k\v moments' rapid work while the train stopped 

 at the station. A portion of two days was spent at Glacier in July, 1901, 

 and again in August. 1902, and here 16 species were taken, mostly on the 

 flowers of a small mountain meadow about 6,000 feet up on the side of 

 Eagle Mt. Glacier is near the summit of the pass over the Selkirk Mts. 

 A number of species were taken also at Field, a short distance west of 

 the Great Divide. On account of their interest in comparison 12 species 

 taken at Seattle, Washington; 14 taken at Laggan, Alberta, most of them 



