Meigen's 1st division of Milesia comprises some beautiful 

 species which have not at present been discovered in Great 

 Britain ; they are distinguished by being only slightly hairy, 

 the face is not produced, and the posterior thighs have a tooth 

 beneath : it seems to me that they might be with more pro- 

 priety included in the genus Spilomyia : of his 2nd subsection, 

 with the posterior thighs unarmed, five species are described 

 in his Syst. Bescli., our typical species being the only one 

 found in this country. His 3rd division contains the group 

 Criorhina, which is separated from the rest by a depressed, ge- 

 nerally broad and woolly abdomen. 



Milesia speciosa is readily distinguished from its native con- 

 geners by the conical forehead. It is now many years since 

 this fine and rare insect was discovered in the New Forest by 

 Mr. D. Bydder, but I took several near Brockenhurst the be- 

 ginning of June 1824, and in a subsequent year the end of 

 May : they fly round the trunks of trees on which they set- 

 tle, as well as upon the slapers from which timber has been 

 felled, and they seem to delight in the thickest parts of the 

 forest, where partial shadows are thrown by the sun from the 

 surrounding foliage. 



The females are much rarer than the males, of which sex 

 we have given a figure ; and they differ only in the eyes being 

 separated from each other, and in the apex of the abdomen 

 being attenuated and more acute. 



The continental species resort to the catkins of the willows 

 and the blossoms of the sloe and hawthorn ; they are therefore 

 vernal species, which may be the reason of my not meeting 

 with any in my rambles through France, which have gene- 

 rally been in July and August. 



Having taken a pair of our insect off the Wood Spurge, 

 Eicphorhia amygdaloides, which was full in blossom at the time, 

 it is added to the plate. 



