Melangyna. 239 



what yellow; the female of Melangyna has an unspotled abdomen, 

 which is never the case in Syrphus, but this character is of sh'ght 

 value, especially as specimens of Melangyna may occur with traces of 

 spots. — I have kept the genus here as the species is easily disting- 

 uished, but I think its generic value is a slight one, the most natural 

 place of the species being in Syrphus nearest to barbifrons. 



The developmental stages are not known. 



Of the genus only one species is known, also occurring in Denmark. 



1. M. quadrimaculata Verr. 



1873. Verr. Ent. Month. Mag-. IX, 281 (Melanostoma). — 1885. Kow. 

 Wien. ent. Zeitg. IV, 201 (Melanostoma). — 1901. Verr. Brit. Fl. VIII, 314, 1, 

 fig. 265. — 1907. Kat. palåarkt. Dipt. III, 48. — Melanostoma barbifrons 

 1862. Schin. F. A. I, 290. — 1871. Verr. Entom. Month. Mag. VII, 201. 



Male. Frons and epistoma black, the latter slightly pruinose, 

 somewhat shining. Vertex and frons with dense and rather long, 

 black hairs; posteriorly on vertex may be yellow hairs; epistoma with 

 long, black hairs on the sides. Head rather low, epistoma low and 

 very broad, the margins a little diverging downwards; it is slightly 

 keel-shaped on the middle, the central knob not much prominent, the 

 mouth edge retreating. Occiput puffed out and somewhat broad below, 

 jowls broad and somewhat descending; occiput bluish black, a little 

 pruinose; the hairs pale yellow, but nearest to the eye-margin are 

 black hairs which are long above. Eyes distinctly haired with short, 

 pale hairs. Antennæ black, short but robust, third joint subquadrate; 

 arista about as long as the antennæ, thickened in more than the basal 

 half. Thorax duU black, clothed with long, erect hairs except just on 

 the front margin ; the hairs are whitish or yellow, but near each side 

 are more or fewer black hairs, almost forming a longitudinal stripe; 

 also in the præsutural depression are more or fewer black hairs. 

 Scutellum black but brown or yellowish brown on the disc; it has 

 very long, pale hairs at the margin, sometimes intermingled with black 

 hairs. Pleura with long hairs, black above, more or less pale down- 

 wards. Abdomen duU black, on third and fourth segments a pair of 

 narrow, transverse, pale yellow spots near the front margins; they 

 are well separated in the middle and do not reach the side margin; 

 the extreme hind margins of fourth and fifth segments obscurely red- 

 dish. Abdomen is clothed with longish hairs, longest at the sides; 

 they are black but pale on more or less of the disc of second seg- 

 ment and on and about the pale spots, they are consequently black 

 at the sides except pale tufts at the base of third and fourth segments, 

 and sometimes there are a few pale hairs at the basal corners of 



