1921.] 235 



A. {D.) ni(jer at Stepper Point, N. Cornwall, in July 1920 [Ent. Kec. xliii, 

 p. 24 (1921)]. — Horace St. J. Donisthorpe, 19 Ilazlewell Road, Putney 

 Hill, S.W. 15: August 10th, 1921. 



Oxycera dives Lie. $ at Pitlochry. — On July 7th of this year I had 

 the pleasure of taking a $ of this very rare fly at Pitlochry (Perthshire), 

 on the hills lying between that town and Ben-y-Vrackie — the local " Ben " 

 which rises 2757 feet above the level of the sea, 1 found the fly about 

 1000 feet up. When Mr. Verrall wrote vol. v. of ' British Flies ' he knew 

 of only one $ specimen — an old one in the Entomological Club Collection, 

 without history, but presumably British ; so that the present note gives 

 the first undoubted record of that sex for Britain. It also adds a new 

 locality for the species. As mentioned by Mr. Verrall I took 3 cJ cJ at 

 Aberfoyle in 1903. In the Ent. Mo. Mag. for 1919, p. 233, I have recorded 

 another J from the same place, taken on June 21st of that year. The 

 live specimens I have taken occurred resting on bracken {Pteris), on which 

 their bright black and yellow colour makes them conspicuous. At Aberfoyle 

 the bracken grew near a stream, and at Pitlochry there was a good deal 

 of marshy ground quite near, on which grew Drosera, Pinguicula, Saxi- 

 fraya, etc. Sweeping and searching assiduously over this ground and the 

 bracken failed to yield another specimen. I have looked for the insect 

 in all likely spots during the past eighteen years, and my total of 4 (5 cJ and 

 1 2 show how scarce it must be. The present specimen (in beautiful 

 condition) agrees with the description in ' British Flies,' but all the markings 

 are bright yellow : Mr. Verrall described some of them in the $ as " orange," 

 due no doubt to the age of the only specimen he had before him. — A. E. J. 

 Carter, Monitieth, Forfarshire : August 1921. 



Diptera from the Pitlochry district of Perthshire. — While searching for 

 O. dives I was fortunate to take a 5 of Oxycera pardalina Mg., another rare 

 species — at least in Scotland, from whence it has been recorded only from 

 Murrock Glen (Ent. Mo. Mag. 1909, p. 41), also a dark $ Odontomyiu viridula 

 F. ; both insects came off the bracken. Another scarce fly turned up in Hilara 

 mutrona Hal., both sexes of which were found in considerable numbers flying 

 over water ; with it were Tachytrechus notatus Stan, and Dolichopus longitarsis 

 Stan., the latter only twice previously recorded from Scotland. My first 

 capture of the c5' of Atlnri.c ibis Y. was made near the Tummel Falls. In 

 woods Limnophora briinneisqnama Zett. and Hyclrotaea similis Mde. were both 

 fairly abundant, while on the hills Tabanus sudeticus Zlr. was seen several 

 times and two $ $ taken. I was glad to find Phamphomyia conformis Kow., 

 a species I had not taken before, and apparently unrecorded from Scotland. 

 A pair in cop. had a small Ceratopogon as prey. Two unrecorded additions 

 to the Perthshire list turned up in Elgiva dorsalis F. and Phaeomyia fusci- 

 2)ennis Mg., although both species have occurred to me m the County before. 

 In several places Simuliutn reptans L. swarmed about one's head and face, but 

 I CGuld not make out that they bit me ; but a minute Ceratopogon {sensu 

 lat.) did so most viciously. Scatophaga ordinata Beck., Chilosia nigripes Mg. 

 [=antiqua Mg.), C. prvxima Zett., Hyetodesia longipes Zett., LimHop)hora 

 contractifrons Zett., and llhamphomyia nigripennis F., were all more or 

 less common and generally distributed. Volucella bombylans L., var. plumata, 



