jg Orthorrhapha brachycera. 



culiciformis Fabr. could scarcely be any other species than grossipes 

 (= davipes Fabr.) as Meigen interprets it in Syst. Beschr., and it 

 seems to me not probable , that Fabricius would have placed the 

 same species in his two genera Empis and Dasypogon. 



The species of Hybos have been somewhat confused, and more 

 species have been established than really exist. One of the causes 

 of this is, that species have been founded with the fumigation of the 

 wings as distinguishing character, and this is not possible. I have 

 long series of all three species showing every gradation in the colour 

 of the wings, from quite hyaline to strongly fumigated; also the thick- 

 ness and colouring of the veins vary; generally the dark wings have 

 the thickest veins, but these may also be thick in the hyaline wings. 

 When the specimens are not quite mature the wings are hyaline, but 

 also specimens which in all other respects seem to be quite mature 

 may have clear wings. Perhaps this faet is in connection with the 

 circumstance , that the species prefer humid and shaded piaces, and 

 that their wings thus take a relatively long time in gelting their 

 definite colour of fuU maturity. Besides the errors caused by the use 

 of the wings as specific character it would also seem , that the sexes 

 have not always been correctly recognised. I thus think that Meigen's 

 H. pilipes is only the male to grossipes ; also H. daripennis Strobl. 

 (Mittheil. Ver. Steierm. 1892, 43), of which the author only knew the 

 male, I am inclined to consider as a clear- winged grossipes-, it seems 

 to be quite similar to grossipes and has the same small exterior geni- 

 talia and the long hairs on the anterior legs. For the rest the author 

 piaces grossipes, femoratiis and fumipemiis in his group 2 with: „Beine 

 ohne auffallend lange Behaarung" ; this I do not understand as the 

 males of these species have long hairs on the anterior legs ; it is also 

 seen that he has only had females of grossipes; for femoratus he says 

 nothing about the sexes, but for fumipennis he mentions males, so 

 that he must here have committed some error. Finally I think, that 

 also H. rufitarsis Zett. (Dipt. Scand. VIII, 2994, 2—3) may be identical 

 with culiciformis; it seems only to differ in the colour of the legs, and 

 I have specimens of culiciformis in which there is some reddish colour 

 both on the middle tibiæ and on the tarsi. We thus come to the result, 

 that there are in Europe only the three species of Hyhos enumer- 

 ated here. 



2. Micposania Zett. 

 Small, dark species. The genus agrees in most respects with 

 Bicellaria. The third antennal joint is short ovate and has not the 

 upper margin straight. The end of abdomen is incurved in the male. 



