siders it more nearly related to the Tabanidas. The antennae 

 are not triarticulate as he describes them ; for the third por- 

 tion, which he terms annulated, is composed of eight distinct 

 joints. 



The following are recorded as British species of this pretty 

 genus, and are divided, 



I. With an eight-spined scutellum (fig. 10.) 



1 . B. abdominalis Steph. 



2. B. lucida Steph. 



3. B. fuscipes Meig. 2, 8, 11. — Black shining; scutellum 



eneous ; feet fuscous : base of tibiae yellow. 



II. With a six-spined scutellum (fig. 10 a). 



4. B. femoralis Meig. — Thorax chalybeous, shining eneous 



behind ; abdomen cseruleous-black ; feet fuscous yel- 

 low at the base. 



5. B. nigra Meig. — Black shining ; feet rufescent, thighs and 



tarsi fuscous at the apex. 



6. B. similis 2^o?-5/. — nigripes M^'/o-.r' — Feet simple and black; 



wings subferruginous ; halteres white ; thorax bluish- 

 green, shining ; abdomen chalybeous black. 



7. B. chalybeata Forst. — atra Meig. Kl. — 6-dentata Fah. ? ? 



— Thorax shining blue-black; abdomen black, holo- 



sericeous ; wings and halteres black ; feet testaceous, 



posterior tarsi dilated and black. 



June, Bay of Belfast, and near Bexley, Kent, Mr. Haliday ; 



and bred in May in moss from Leicestershire, by Mr. Davis. 



8. B. geniculata Hal.— Curt. Brit. Ent. pi. 337. c?.— Taken 



by Mr. Haliday with the last in Ireland, from June to 

 the Slh of August : Mr. Davis, from Hebden Bridge. 



9. B. clavipes Linn. — Panz. 9. 19. — Thorax black, shining; 



abdomen and feet rufous ; tarsi fuscous ; wings smoky. 

 From Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, Mr. Davis. 



10. B. vallata iv?rs^. — Meig. — clax'ipesFab. — nigritarsisZ«^ — 



Thorax black, shining; abdomen and feet rufous; apex 

 of tibise and tarsi fuscous; wings smoky in the male, 

 subhyaline and yellow at the base in the female. 

 Found from April to the middle of July, on palings near 

 meadows, on grass, oaks, &c. at Darent and Beerwood in 

 Kent, at Wanstead Essex, Hebden Bridge, and Ambleside. 

 B. tibialis would associate better with Xylophagus, from 

 which it is distinguished by its 4-spined scutellum. I shall 

 give it Meigen's name of Actina ; it is characterized by long 

 palpi, the eyes are not contiguous in the male, the wings have 

 an additional nervure, and the posterior tibiae are incrassated. 

 The plant is Antirrhinum Orontium (Less Snapdragon). 



