1891.1 43 



The legs are black. The front pair present no peculiar characters, but the in- 

 termediate ones have the femora somewhat swollen or dilated a little beyond the 

 centre, their basal third is bare, but the middle and anterior portions are spinose 

 beneath ; the thickest and strongest bristles forming a sort of beard under the 

 swollen portion of the joint. In H. scalaris the middle femora are of the ordinary 

 shape (slightly thickened in the centre), and are bristled along their whole under- 

 surface, the spines being concentrated into a tuft of very strong blunt bristles 

 towards the middle. In if. coracina the bristles on the under-sides of the middle 

 femora are less tufted than in the other two species, and extend from the base along 

 the posterior three-fourths, leaving the distal or front part bare ; there is also no 

 abnormal thickening of the limb. 



The middle tibias in H. vesparia have an elongated projection or tubercle on 

 their iinier sides, which occupies about two-fifths of the distal end ; it is even in 

 shape, and ciliated over the whole inner surface with short straight hairs, somewhat 

 in the same manner as the corresponding tubercle in R. armata, Mgn., in which it 

 is, however, larger, irregular in shape, and armed with longer hairs. 



In H. scalaris the tibial tubercle is in the shape of a short thick lump at tlie 

 inner end of the joint, and quite bare ; in S. coracina it is somewhat similar in 

 shape to that in H. vesparia, but more irregular upon the surface, and destitute of 

 hairs, with the exception of a few soft ones on its lower part. The hind tibia are 

 ciliated upon both sides much as in H. coracina ; they are almost bare in S. scalaris. 



Mr. R. Newstead, Curator of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, kindly sent me 

 a male of this species, which he had bred from larvce which he bad found in the nest 

 of Vespa germanica, together with those of Acanthoptera iiianis, Fin., and 

 HoMALOMTiA canicularis, L. The larvae of the last named common fly seem to bo 

 common in wasp nests, and Zetterstedt mentions* that they have also been found in 

 those of Bombus terrestris. 



The interesting question arises — what is the food of these larvte in these nests ? 

 Those of H. canicularis and also of H. scalaris are well known to feed commonly 

 upon ordure and various rotten vegetable matters, as decayed cabbage stalks. What 

 do they find to eat in wasps' nests ? They cannot be parasites upon the wasp larvae. 

 Do they eat the excrement emitted by these ? 



LlMNOPHORA LITOREA, Flu. 

 I captured two males of this well-marked species at Grange-over-Sands, Lanca- 

 shire, in June, 1890. It has not yet, I think, been recorded as British ; it is 

 characterized by having the eyes in the male separated by a broad black line ; by 

 the antennffi being rather long, and having the arista very slightly pubescent ; by 

 the thorax being grey with whitish shoulders and sides, and marked on the dor- 

 sum with three somewhat confluent and indistinct stripes ; the hiteral ones broad 

 and irregular (maculiform) in shape, and the middle one apparently made up of 

 several narrow lines ; by the scutellum being grey, with a black mark on each side ; 

 by the abdomen being of a clear grey colour, and marked with four moderate sized 

 triangular spots. It is about 6 mm. in length. 



Bradford, Yorkshire : 



December 13th, 1890. 



* Dipt. Scand., t. xiv, p. 62.51. 



