168 



The species varies considerably in size, the males being much the largest ; 

 and, in its light coloured form, may be distinguished from the pallid condition of 

 A. calcarata (next to which it must be placed, on account of its anterior tibiae not 

 being widened at the apex, and the apical joint of its antenna3 being decidedly 

 narrower than the two preceding joints) by the following characters. It is of a 

 shorter ovate form, and not quite so convex; the thorax has its base nearly 

 straight, not so sinuous near the hinder angles, which are almost acute, and not 

 rounded off ; and the punctuation of the striae of the elyti-a is not quite so deep. 



In the male, moreover, the hinder femora are not toothed beneath, but are 

 rounded off at the lower apex, and the hinder tibiae are elongate, and much curved 

 inwai-da. There are of course (as in the other species of the genus, and indeed in 

 all insects where the male chai-acter is normally of strong development) specimens 

 in which the latter peculiarities are not so conspicuous as in the type form. 



Tychius PYGJt.EUS, De BamevUle, Rev. et Mcuj. de Zool^ sSrie ii., Tom. xii , ISfiO, 

 p. 167. 



From the description given in the above-mentioned publication there can, I 

 think, be no doubt that Tychius Irevicwnis, Waterliouse (Proc. Ent. Soc, Lond., 

 5th May, 1862), is synonymous with, and subsequent in date of publication to, the 

 above-named species ; and, if so, that the name hrevicornis must be suppressed. 



The chief remarkable point in this insect, next to its small size, is however 

 omitted in M. de Barneville's diagnosis, viz., the comparative shortness of the 

 antennae, both the scape and separate joints of the funiculus being not so long as 

 in the allied species. I have compared Mr. Waterhouse's specimens with th« 

 description of T. pyg^r, o'us, and find them to accord very exactly, as far as the 

 description goes. — E. C. Rye, 284, King's Road, Chelsea, S.W., 5th Novemher, 1864. 



A Nev! British Tachinua. — T. pallipes, Grav. 



While looking over some Tachini lately taken by me in this neighbourhood, I 

 have noticed some specimens which cannot be referred to any species in our lists. 

 At first sight they very closely resemble the common T. rufipes, but the structure 

 of the terminal segment of the abdomen, especially of the female, is very different 

 to what it is in that insect, agreeing on the other hand remarkably well with 

 Kraatz's description of those parts in T. pallipes, Grav. In other respects, how- 

 ever, the specimens in question do not correspond so entirely with this description ; 

 the chief difference being that the elytra appear to be rather longer than Kraatz's 

 diagnosis of T. pallipes would lead one to expect. I therefore rather hesitatingly 

 assign my insects to that species. They are about the size of T. rufipes, but with 

 paler legs, and with the lateral margins of the thorax yellow. In the male, the 

 upper plate of the seventh abdominal segment ends in four not very acute teeth, 

 the middle pair being most prominent, and the triangular notch which sepa- 

 rates these does not extend so far as the termination of the external teeth. The 

 under-side is much as in the male of T. rxfipcs. In the female, the upper plate of 

 the seventh segment ends in four long, sharp, teeth, the central ones being a very 

 little the longer, the notch lietween them reaching very nearly to the point where the 

 outer ones commence getting narrower. The under plate ends in six teeth, the 



