Empididae. 79 



the margin. Halteres white. Legs not slender, brownish black, 

 simple, the hind tibiæ with black bristles on the dorsal side. — 

 Length VU". 



5. Cmpis Linné. 



Species of somewhat large to small size, and of a more or less 

 slender shape. The colour black or blackish, but generally more or 

 less grey or brown pruinose; sometimes the colour is yellow, and 

 then generally wih dark stripes on thorax and abdomen. The head 

 is small, globular, narrower than thorax; sometimes it is somewhat 

 elongated and pear-shaped; occiput is arched, or, when the head is 

 elongated, drawn out and conical; it is more or less densely clothed 

 with hairs or bristles, and there are likewise more or less numerous 

 ocellar hairs or bristles. The eyes are larger or smaller; they are 

 either touching in the male and separated in the female, or separated 

 in both sexes, in some cases very narrowly separated. When the 

 eyes are touching in the male, the facets in the upper part are 

 larger than in the lower part, but the dividing line is generally not 

 distinct or only so in rare cases; the small facets stretch upwards at 

 the hind margin of the eye. The species with the eyes separated in 

 both sexes have all facets small and of equal size. The colour of 

 the eyes is brownish. The incision in the inner eye-margin is small 

 and shallow, sometimes almost wanting. There are three ocelli, 

 placed on a prominent tubercle. The antennæ are inserted near to 

 each other, in or a little above the middle; they are five-jointed ; the 

 first joint is shorter or longer, the second short, the third is more or 

 less elongated, conically tapering, and compressed; the two last joints 

 form a style the first joint of which is the shortest. The two first 

 antennal joints have shorter or longer hairs or bristles. Epistoma is 

 broader or narrower and has generally below, at the margin of the 

 oral aperture, a somewhat elevated callus, towards the sides con- 

 tinuing into the narrow jowls. The following description of the mouth 

 parts is chiefly taken from E. tessellata. There is a small oral cone; 

 on the front-side of it lies the chitinised clypeus which is somewhat 

 horse-shoe-shaped, stretching with one leg down on each side. Pro- 

 boscis is about twice as long as the head is high, (from a little longer 

 than the head is high to almost as long as the body in the various 

 species); it is directed vertically downwards. Labrum is strong, as 

 long as proboscis, very high at the base, semitubular, and three- 

 pointed at the apex, the two lateral lobes are well chitinised, the 

 median less. The maxillæ have a thread-shaped lacinia, a little shorter 

 than proboscis; the palpi are cylindrical, one-jointed, directed some- 



