Phthiria is one of the Bombylidae, from the type of which 

 family it is distinguished by the neuration of the wings, the 

 narrowness of the abdomen, and the shortness of the basal 

 joint of the antennae. They seem also to differ in their habits, 

 for I have never seen the Phthirise hovering over flowers like 

 the large and beautiful Bombylii. 



It is probably 20 years since I took two females of P. puli- 

 caria on the coast of Suffolk, one of which I presented to my 

 friend Dr. Leach, who placed it in the British Museum. Be- 

 fore that time it was unknown in this countr^f ; and it is re- 

 markable that it should not have been detected since, until I 

 visited Suffolk last June, when I found a sufficient number to 

 supply all my friends, and had the good fortune to detect the 

 male, which 1 had never before seen. The sexes are so very 

 dissimilar, that unless they were taken together, any one would 

 consider them as different insects. 



P. ]mlicaria was recorded in my Guide under a new name, 

 for Mikan, who describes only the female in his "Monogra- 

 phia Bombyliorum Bohemias," takes no notice of the yellow 

 line bordering the sides of the thorax, which is very conspi- 

 cuous, especially in rubbed specimens; neither does Meigen, 

 in his essential character. 



I found both sexes of the Phthiria sucking the florets of 

 Hieracmm pilosellce and Hypochceris radicata (pi. 385.) on 

 the Denes at Covehithe, Suffolk, and I observed a few also, 

 probably sheltering themselves from the wind, in the flowers 

 of the Yellow Horn Poppy (pi. 66.) and the plant figured. In 

 the neighbourhood of Montpellier I saw 2 or 3 in the flowers 

 of a Thistle, but could not capture one. It seems to be rare 

 upon the continent, for when I sent to Germany for specimens 

 to dissect, I only obtained a female; and Mikan says, he once 

 took it the beginning of summer in the flowers o^ Chrysanthe- 

 mum Leucajithemiim (pi. 162), in the vicinity of Prague. 



The handsome Plant represented, with a specimen of the 

 male insect, is Convolvulus Soldanella (Sea Bindweed). 



