41 



that the female specimen ilkistratcd in Plate 15, which was taken by 

 Colonel Yerbury at Aviemore, Inverness-shire, on June 5th, 1904, has 

 a small appendix to the upper branch of the third vein in each winL,s 

 and traces of a similar appendix are to be seen in some of the other 

 specimens in the Museum. In the British Islands Therioplectes luridus 

 would appear to be a northern species, and as yet the Museum 

 possesses no specimens from either England, Wales, or Ireland. 

 Colonel Yerbury writes : — " In Scotland this is the earliest <>f the 

 Tabanida;. In May 1905, it was met with in numbers near Nairn, 

 when both sexes were found sitting on a sandy road leading to 

 Mairston Sand Hills. A single female was taken at Aviemore on 

 June 5th, 1904. Probably all the Tabanida; seen by me in Scotland 

 at this time of the year belonged to this species." The Continental 

 specimens of this species in the Museum collection are all from 

 Norway; additional localities given by Brauer are Swedish-Lapland, 

 Sweden, Poland, Silesia, and Bohemia. 



Therioplectes tropicus, Pz. {tiec Mg.). 



(Form bisignatns, Jaenn.) 



Plate 16. 



In its typical form this species has an ochraceous or ochraceous- 

 buff patch on each side of the abdomen extending from the posterior 

 angles of the first to the posterior margin of the third or anterior 

 border of the fourth segment, leaving a broad median black stripe 

 one-third of the abdomen in width. Two males in the possession of 

 the Museum from Oxshott, Surre}', June 9th, 1895 {Lieiit.-Coloncl 

 Yerbury and IF. R. Ogilvie Grant), and Chattenden Roughs, Kent, 

 July I2th, 1902 {H. W. Aiidreivs), respectively are of this character, 

 but the whole of the British females in the Museum series [15] are of 

 the melanochroic form bisignatns, of which a specimen is illustrated 

 in Plate 16, which accordingly would appear to be the common 

 British form of the female of this species. As a further proof of this 

 conclusion it maybe mentioned that at Oxshott on June 9th, 1S95, 



