sects of both sexes" : he adds, " The sea-coast seems the pe- 

 culiar habitat of mine; I seldom have seen it a hundred yards 

 from high-water mark. It was taken at Holy wood." 



Neither of Meigen's species have yet been discovered in our 

 islands, but as it is very probable they soon may be, I shall 

 give his descriptions. 



1. Dr. exilis Mfg. — Meig. v. 3. p. 91. tab. 23. Jg. 25—28. 



" Head black, nearly orbicular. Eyes a little separated in 

 both sexes. Hypostoma very narrow. Three ocelli on the 

 vertex. Antennae black, approximate at the base, then bent 

 upwards towards the side, shorter than the head with a long 

 naked terminal bristle (25). Proboscis somewhat prominent 

 with incumbent palpi, whose figure is not easily determined 

 from their minuteness. Thorax shining black above, without 

 any transverse suture. Abdomen in male entirely shining 

 black, rather long nearly cylindric, of seven segments : in 

 female more oval, acuminate, reddish yellow above, with black 

 bands at the hind margin of the segments, entirely reddish 

 yellow beneath. Thighs a little incrassated, black; tibiae 

 brown unarmed, feet yellow. Poisers black ; wings hyaline, 

 incumbent and parallel in repose, with microscopic hairs, 

 rounded in front. The genus is easily distinguished by the 

 neuration. After death the abdomen of the female becomes 

 nearly all black from contraction, only a little of the yellow 

 remaining visible. These flies run with extraordinary agility, 

 so that they are hard to catch. In Aug. and Sept. common 

 on palings. Megerle sent the same out of Austria. Male ^, 

 female | line long." 



Meigen in a subsequent volume gives the following specific 

 description of D. exilis. " Black shining ; tibiae and tarsi 

 yellow; segments of abdomen equal", v. 6. p. 344. 



2. Dr. nigra Meig. Siipp. v. 6. p. S^i. " Black, shining ; an- 



terior tibiae and tarsi entirely yellow, fourth segment of 

 the abdomen the largest." 



" The fourth segment of the abdomen embraces more than 

 half of its entire length. In my specimen the poisers are not 

 visible. One male from Winthem. Fully half a line long." 



Mr. Haliday says, " From the correction of the characters 

 of Dr. exilis, Meigen seems to have found the yellow colour 

 of the abdomen a delusive character, perhaps the effect of 

 disease. I should add that, according to my observations, all 

 the insects of this family have three-jointed antennse. The 

 difference therefore between this and the preceding family is, 

 that in the Empidae the 2nd joint is the smallest, and the 

 palpi reflected ; in Tachydromiae the ] st joint is the shortest, 

 the palpi incumbent." 



The Plant is Galium palustre? (White Water Bed-straw). 



