Empididae. 23 



Male. Antennæ black. Occiput greyish or brownish black, with 

 blackish hairs. Thorax very high and arched, dull velvet black, a 

 little shilling behind; acrostichal and dorsocentral bristles black, very 

 short, but the hindmost (4) dorsocentral bristles long. Scutellum 

 greyish, the scutellar marginal bristles black. Pleura dark grey, not 

 quite dull. Abdomen dull velvet black; venter dark grey, sligthly 

 shining. Abdomen somewhat densely hairy with rather long, blackish 

 or brownish hairs ; the hairs are longest and erect at the sides. Venter 

 sparingly haired with shorter hairs. Legs slender, black or dark 

 brownish; hind tibiæ not thickened towards the apex, hind tarsi thin 

 and quite simple. Femora with dorsal and ventral rows of short 

 hairs; they are most conspicuous on the hind femora, but also here 

 short; tibiæ with similar, likewise short hairs, and all tibiæ with a 

 few longer bristles an the dorsal side; the front and hind tibiæ have 

 the usual dense, short pubescence, the former on the ventral side, 

 the latter at the apex; the tarsi are short haired. All hairs blackish 

 or brown. Wings brownish tinged, most towards the anterior margin ; 

 the more saturated anterior part is distinctly bordered by a line stretch- 

 ing above the cubital vein about parallel with it; the apical part 

 of the mediastinal cell brownish, but only slightly conspicuous. The 

 wings somewhat iridescent. Veins brown, the cubital vein blackish; 

 discai vein weak and pale, its fork generally complete. Halteres black 

 or dark brown. 



Female. Less dark than the male. Thorax greyish black , with 

 a slight pruinosity, somewhat shining. Abdomen brownish or greyish 

 black, the hairs shorter and paler than in the male. Wings hyaline, 

 veins lighter than in the male, the discai vein, especially the peduncle, 

 very weak; apical part of the mediastinal cell quite pale. Halteres 

 yellow. 



Length 2,7 — 3 mm. 



This species is recognised especially by the quite simple hind tibiæ 

 and tarsi, the short haired legs, and the hyaline wings in the female; 

 as I have examined Stæger's specimens, the Identification with simpli- 

 cipes Zett. is certain, and I have no doubt, that it is identical with 

 melaena Hal. as the description, which is, to be sure, very short, 

 answers quite well. Zetterstedt says about the wings in the male; 

 „nervis 3 & 4 longitudinalibus ad originem unitis furcam longissimam 

 formantibus" ; I do not understand how he has come to this, unless 

 he has been misled by a fold in the wing. — As Zetterstedt says 

 „Stæg. in litteris" the name simplicipes is due to Stæger. 



B. melaena is not common in Denmark; Lersøen (Stæger), Tyve- 

 krogen (the author) and on Funen at Odense (H. J. Hansen). My 

 onlv dates are "'k — ^^/e. Stæger has taken it on Umbelliferae. 



