1905. J 7 



spineless subcostal vein, the small size of the anal cell, and the bristles 

 on the middle metatarsi of the male, as well as the general facies, 

 combine to show that it is really an Aqathomijia. 



Shobdon Marsh lies in the valley of the Arrow, and close to 

 Pembridge, one of the quaintest of Herefordshire villages, with its 

 old timbered houses and raised footways. The marsh has been 

 partially drained, but the wood is still very soft and boggy, especially 

 at one end where several strong springs break out. It gave me this 

 year some other very good things besides the Agathomyla, but it is a 

 cruel place to collect in, from the swarms of Culex annidatus, or an 

 allied species that frequent it, and unless I had, before entering, 

 anointed face, hands, and even legs with eucalyptus oil, into which 

 some carbolic acid had been dropped, I doubt I could have faced the 

 two or three hours I usually spent there. Among these good things I 

 may mention Actio, frontalis, and another interesting Tachinid or two, 

 a female Pipunculiis belonging to the zo7intus group, and remarkable 

 for having three or four long bristles at the bend of the hind tibiae. 

 Mr. Verrall suggests it may possibly be Becker's arimosus, the female 

 of which is unknown; Mydcda lonqitarsis (one (J), and Homalomyia 

 difficilis (two S S)^ Acidia Jychnidis, and last, but not least, Pallop- 

 tera Icetahilis (three ($ S)- I tried in vain for Aciura rotundiventris, 

 of which Col. Terbury swept one here in 1902, but I have good hopes 

 that on the occasion of my last visit T discovered the clue to its food- 

 plant, so one day I may succeed in breeding it. 



Tarrington : October, 1904. 



NOTE BY G. H. VERRALL. 



Dr. J. H. Wood's captures in Platypezidie are very interesting and very 

 instructive. I still have great doubts about the name of the one he introduces as 

 C. eleyantula, because Fallen in his original description says, " Abdominis 

 segmenta 1 et 2 lutea, pellucida, 3 et 4 atra (inimaculata) ; anus albicans," but 

 afterwards accepted Zetterstedt's description, which in 1844 was developed into 

 "abdominis segmentis 2 : do toto 3 : tioque lateribus, fulvopellucidis, ano toto 

 argenteo ; " Meigen's description of a specimen from Sweden says, " Hinterleib : 

 erster Ring schwarz ; zweiter und dritter lebhaft rothgelb, durchscheinend ; die 

 beiden folgenden schwarz und der After aschgrau," and none of the authors call 

 tlie thorax striped. The differences require more material to work upon before 

 they can be removed, but it may be said with fair confidence that Dr. Wood's speci- 

 mens do not belong to any other described Callimyia. The somewhat elongated 

 conical third joint of the antennae compels a slight modification of that gencrie 

 character oijiCallimyia. 



