202 Tachinidae. 



Geographical distribution: — All Europe; towards the north 

 into Sweden, and in Finland. 



23. S. offuscata (Meig. ?) Schin. 



?1826. Meig. Syst. Beschr. V, 26, 16. — 1862. Schin. p. p. F. A. I, 572. 

 — 1896. Pand. Rev. Entom. XV, 201, 52. — 1907. Villen. Ann. Soc. Ent. de 

 Er. LXXVI, 397. — 1913. Bottch. Deutsch. Ent. Zeitschr. 244, Fig. 59. — 

 1924. Stein, Arch. f. Natiirgesch. 90, 6, 197. 



Male. Frons not lialf as broad as the eye; orbits ratlier narrow. 

 Orbits and face dark grey; jowls grey; frontal stripe brownish black. 

 Outer vertical bristles somewhat developed. Bristles on cheeks not 

 small. Jowls black-haired. Occiput grey, almost quite black-haired, 

 only pale-haired in the middle below. Antennæ with third joint 

 short, not much longer than second, just reaching the lower margin 

 of the eye. Palpi black, thin. Thorax dark grey, the lateral black 

 stripes nearly double as broad as the median, the interstices some- 

 what narrow; three postsutural dorsocentrals; a præscutellar pair 

 and some præsutural acrostichals. Scutellum without apical bristles. 

 Abdomen dark grey or brownish grey pruinose, black tessellated, 

 three black stripes somewhat distinct; third segment with strong 

 bristles, and all abdominal bristles strong. Fourth sternite with 

 somewhat erect hairs. Fifth sternite with brush. Præhypopygial 

 segment black, with a brownish pruinose spot at hind margin, and 



with strong marginal bristles. Hypopygium 

 black (rarely red), densely hairy; upper 

 forceps cleft in about apical third, at the base 

 of the arms a dorsal hump, the elongated 

 triangular apical part bent slightly ventrally. 

 Anterior claspers longer than posterior, 

 straight, with apex bent forwards; posterior 

 likewise straight, with hook-shaped apex. 

 Penis with the end not bent forwards, short 

 triangularly pointed; no distinct lobes seen, 

 but at the end a pair of pale, broad lateral 

 Fig 62 S offuscata apophyses and between them a pair of 

 bristle-like median apophyses arranged about 

 as in haemorrhoa. Posterior femora sparingly fringed below; hind 

 tibiæ sparingly fringed on posteroventral side with distant hairs; 

 middle femora without comb; hind femora with a row of distant 

 or more numerous, long anteroventral bristles. Wings more or less, 



