46 Belladonna Lea/Miner 



three of these are however synonyms for one and the same species. 

 Pandelle (1907) considered Pegomyia as a sub-genus of Anthomyia 

 giving the colour of the body as of sub-generic value, which is bv no 

 means satisfactory. Stein (1906), although admitting that the estab- 

 lishment of Pegomyia as a separate genus is quite artificial and untenable 

 stricto sensu, yet adopts it in his scheme of classification. His reason 

 for so doing is that the species included in the genus possess at least 

 one plastic character in addition to colour, namely the quite regular 

 absence of the cruciate bristles (Kreuzborster) in the female sex. In 

 the few exceptions the presence of these bristles forms a very good specific 

 character. In scrutinising the extent of the genus it is observed that 

 Stein considered as belonging to Pegomyia, all Anthomyiids which have 

 the antennary bristle naked, or at least slightly pubescent, eyes naked, 

 always three dorso-central bristles behind the transverse suture, the 

 anal vein continued to the margin of the wing and the tibiae yellow in 

 at least the greater part. 



3. History of the Species. 



According to Westwood (1840) the larvae of P. hyoscyami are stated 

 as devouring the parenchyma of the leaves of various plants, living 

 between the two surfaces, but the author records no definite food plants. 

 Zetterstedt in 1846 described the adult and quotes AVahlberg as having 

 found several of the larvae in the parenchymatous tissue of the leaves 

 of Hyoscyamus niger just before the plant flowered. Curtis in 1847 

 first recorded the var. Anthotiiyia belae as mining in the leaves of mangold- 

 wurzel and quoted a short description of the larva. The author also 

 described the adult male, the female being unknown to him. In his 

 account the antennae and palpi are stated to be wholly black whereas 

 the former have the basal segment more or less red and the latter have 

 only the terminal segment black, the two basal segments being yellow 

 as Meade later described. A doubt is expressed as to the extent of the 

 damage caused by the maggots and a suggestion made that cattle 

 eating the leaves containing them may be injuriously affected. In 

 the following year (1848) Scholtz, in a paper on leaf-mining insects, has 

 the following : " Anth. befae mihi (der Antli. exilis Meig., versicolor 

 Meig., und mitis Fbr. verwandt) minirt nach meinen Beobachtungen in 

 grossern Platzen, die oft das ganze Blatt einnehmen, und zwar gesellig 

 die Blatter von Beta trigyna.'^ The author must have been unaware 



