100 



identity be proved, by a subsequent comparison of the types, the 

 question as to which name is to be regarded as having priority will 

 have to be decided. The wrapper of the number of the Bulletin 

 du Museu7n National cVHistoire Naturdh containing the descrip- 

 tion of Tabanus lemairei, Surcouf, is dated " Fevrier, 1908," but 

 there are reasons for thinking that the part may not have been 

 published until April, the month in which the description of T. 

 congoiensis, Ricardo, appeared. 



Tabanus socialis, Walker. 



Insecta Saundersiana, Vol. I., Diptera, Part I., p. 45 (1850). 



Plate VIII. , fig. 57. 



In this species the colour of the median stripe on the abdomen 

 is usually a very faint grey, and, at any rate in pinned and more or 

 less denuded specimens, the stripe generally appears more uniform 

 and less broken up into spots than might be imagined from the 

 figure. So far as is indicated by the localities of the specimens 

 in the Museum, the area of distribution of Tabanus socialis extends 

 at least from the Gambia to the Congo : it may be added that, 

 according to its label, the type of the species is from the Congo 

 (instead of from the " Cape," as erroneously stated by Walker), 

 but that no other specimens have yet been received from that 

 region. The localities, etc., of the thirty-four specimens (one male 

 and thirty-three females) of Tabanus socialis in the Museum Collec- 

 tion are as follows. — Gambia (precise locality unknown), 1906 

 {Dr. E. Hopkinson, D.S.O.). Sierra Leone : Mt. Aureol, Freetown, 

 May and June, 1904 {Major F. Smith, D.S.O., R.A.M.C.) ; Karina 

 District, Sierra Leone Protectorate, October-November, 1906 {Dr. 

 H. E. Arbuckle, W.A.M.S.) ; Bonthe, Sherbro River, March, 1908, 

 " in mangrove swamp " {Dr. Jackson- Moore, per Dr. R. M. Forde, 

 W.A.3I.S.). Liberia: (precise locality unknown), 1908; Mon- 

 rovia, February 16th, 1909, " caught on board H.M.S. Mutine, 1800 

 yards from the beach ; wind inshore, force 2 " {Surgeon A. McCloy, 



