Tabanidae. 87 



The antennæ are two-jointed; on each side of the head there is a 

 small eye-spot. The pupa is free, it has iio spines on head or thorax, 

 but soine tubercles with bristles; the abdomiual segments bear girdles 

 of bristles. The pupa has two large, somewhat ear-shaped prothoracic 

 spiracies and seven abdominal spiracles. 



The larvæ live in water or in more or less humid localities: 

 they are carnivorous and feed on other larvæ and on snails. The 

 pupæ are found in the earth. 



The Tabanids are rather robust, middle sized or large flies. 

 T. sifdeticus being, I think. our largest fly; the females are often 

 frequent on pastures, as they are blood-sucking and attack cattle, 

 except perhaps some of the Pangonke. The species are distributed 

 all over the world. It is interesting to notice, that of the rather large 

 rmmber of species described from the palæarctic region and from North 

 America, about 200 and 300 respectively, only two, Chnjsops nigripes 

 and sepulcralis, are common to both regions, and with regard to 

 sepulcralis the reference is doubtful. 



I am aquainted with no case from Denmark of the occurrence 

 of parasitic Hymenoptera on species of Tabanids. As far as is known 

 two cases have been recorded. The Tabanids seem thus only to a 

 small degree to be objects for parasitic Hymenoptera. The parasite 

 is in both the known cases a Proctotrupid, infesting the eggs. The 

 one is Telenomus Tabani Mayr, bred from eggs of an unknown 

 Tabanus species in Austria (Mayr, Verh. zool. bot. Gesell. Wien, XXIX. 

 1880,713), the other is Phanurus tabanivorus Ashm. (Hart, BuU. Illn. 

 State Lab. Nat. Hist. IV) bred from eggs of the american species T. 

 atratus Fabr. Gobert (iVIém. de la Soc. Linn. du nord de la Fr. 1881) 

 remarks, that he has seen Bembex rostraia take large Tabanids as 

 prey. Wesenberg Lund. who has examined Bembex rostrata here 

 (Ent. Medd. III. 1891-92. 19) found no Tabanids among its prey. 



Tabanids earlier recorded from Denmark. Kramer, 1760 (Spec. In- 

 sectol. Dan.) has two species : Tabanus bovinus and pluvialis; Briinniche in 

 1761, (Prodr.Insectol. Siæl.). enumerates five: Tabanus bovinus, bromius, 

 tropictis, pluvialis and cæcutiens, and the same are enumerated in 1763. 

 in Pontoppidan, Dansk. Atl. I. About these .species can only be said 

 that the three first are Tabani, pluvialis a Hæmatopota and cæcutiens 

 a Chrysops, but nothing can with certainty be said about the species. 

 Muller, 1764 (Faun. Fridrichsd.), enumerates five species: Tabanus 

 bovinus^ tropicus, pluvialis, caecutiens and the new species arcticus. 

 Of these bovinus seems to be correctly determined (see under this 

 species), tropictis is a Tabanus, pluvialis a Hæmatopota and caecutiens 

 a Chrysops; T. arcticus is the male of one of the Hæmatopota-species. 



