Empididae. 67 



This curious species is at once distinguished in the male by the 

 colour, the separated eyes and the narrow epistoma; the female is 

 on the contrary very hke the female of hijhrida, under which species 

 I shall note the specific differences, It is a very interesting species; 

 the whole structure of the body and the shape of the exterior geni- 

 talia bring it near to the following species, while on the other hånd 

 the separated eyes in the male make it stand a little apart. 



Bh.flava is very rare in Denmark, I only know of two specimens, 

 one taken at an earlier time, probably in the vicinity of Copenhagen 

 (Stæger), and one from Horsens in Jutland (H. J. Hansen), both females. 

 It was taken in August. 



Geographical distribution : — Northern and middle Europe down 

 into France; towards the north to northern Sweden, but here rare, 

 and in Finland. Zetterstedt mentions, that he took it on flowers of 

 Umbelliferæ and Composites in shaded piaces. Verrall (Entom. Month. 

 May. XIX, 1883, 224) records, that he met with the males hovering 

 about six feet from the ground in plantations in considerable numbers. 



Remarks: The separated eyes in the male of this species have 

 not, Strange to say, been noted previously, neither by Zetterstedt nor 

 by Meigen, and also Frey (Acta Soc. pro Faun. et Flor. Fenn. 31, 

 No. 9, 1909, 20) makes no mention of this faet, but piaces the species 

 in his group 3. Zetterstedt says, that the antennæ in the female are 

 quite black, but this is erroneous, as they have the two basal joints 

 yellow as in the male; I think Zetterstedt has confused it with the 

 female of hybrida which has the basal joints of the antennæ darker. 

 The shape of the head in the male of flava is somewhat curious, not 

 alone by the separated eyes, but also by the high inserted antennæ 

 and by the faet, that the epistoma is very narrow, the eyes going 

 near to each other below the antennæ. 



17. Rh. culicina Fall. 



1815. Fall. Dipt. Suec. Empid. 28, 29 (Empis). — 1822. Meig. Syst. 

 Beschr. III, 52, 19. — 1842. Zett. Dipt. Scand. I, 421,41. — 1862. Schin. 

 F. A. 1, 99. — 1903. Kat. palåarkt. Dipt. II, 224. 



Male. Eyes contiguous, the small frontal triangle brown; epistoma 

 greyish. Occiput grey, with black hairs. Labrum about as long as, 

 or somewhat longer than the head is high, ferruginous ; palpi yellowish. 

 Antennæ about as long as the head, black or brownish black, the 

 two basal joints brown, with short hairs, the third joint elongated, 

 not much attenuated towards the apex. Thorax black or brownish 

 black, duU, somewhat velvet ; two more brownish and less duU stripes 

 are visible, the intermediate and side spaces thus forming three darker 



