The most remarkable circumstances relating to the Tabanidae, 

 are, the different habits of the two sexes, and the multitudes 

 of females we encounter without meeting a single male; this 

 is particularly the case in the genus Haematopota : any one 

 who has been in the woods and marshes in June and July, in 

 the heat of the day, cannot fail to remember having been an- 

 noyed if not bitten by these sanguinary flies, whose presence 

 is often not known till we are informed by the pain of the 

 wound they have inflicted, and every one of these flies will 

 prove on examination to be the female. The males I believe, 

 like those of the true Tabani, resort to flowers, but whether 

 for animal or vegetable food I have not ascertained. In con- 

 sequence of this difference in their habits, the trophi or parts 

 of the mouth are dissimilar, the palpi being very hairy in the 

 male and the mandibles altogether wanting ; from this we 

 learn that these organs are more immediately employed for 

 inflicting the wound, the labrum, tongue and maxillas being 

 inclosed between them and all entering the flesh together, 

 when the tongue and labrum being applied to each other, the 

 blood flows through a channel formed by the two into the 

 stomach. 



They are called Stouts in Dorsetshire, and Clegs in other 

 parts of England and Scotland- 



1. H. hirsuta Curt. — ocellata Meig. 



Our specimens are merely the males of H. pluvialis, which 

 we received many years since as the H. ocellata. 



2. H. Equorum Fah. 



Meigen had never seen this insect I believe, and I have little 

 doubt of its being a mere variety of the former, for I have 

 never seen a corresponding female. 



r^. H. pluvialis Linn.—Panz. 13. 23 ? .—Don. 5. 151. 3 ? .— 

 Meig. tab. 14./ 16 ?. 



Common everywhere in woods, on palings in lanes &c., in 

 June, July and August, in England, Scotland and Ireland ; 

 the females, which attack both men and horses, sometimes 

 appear in myriads without one male. 

 4. H. italica Meig.— Curt. Brit. Ent. pi. 525 $ . 



Meigen gave this insect as a distinct species in his Klassifi- 

 Jcazion d. Zweijl. Ins., but in his subsequent work he considers 

 it as a var. only of No. 3., as the antennae are considerably 

 longer in italica than in the other species, (see fig. /.) at least 

 in the females ; as it is a much larger insect and the thighs are 

 ochreous, I am disposed to think it is distinct. I have never 

 seen the male, and am indebted to Mr. J. M. Churchill for 

 specimens of the other sex which were discovered by him in 

 Mersey-Isle, Essex. 



The eyes were probably of a splendid green colour when 

 alive, with darker bands as in the other species. 



The plant is Juncus ccenosus, Smith, communicated by James 

 Paget, Esq. 



