188 [August. 



A DIPTEEON NEW TO THE BRITISH FAUNA. 

 BY J. RAY HARDY. 



I have for some considerable time lieeu engaged in making a col- 

 lection of the insects which inhabit wasps' nests. In February of the 

 present year I received an intimation that a fine large and old nest of 

 Vespa vulgaris had been found on a farm at Northern Etchells in 

 Cheshire. I went down and received the nest intact, brought it up to 

 Manchester, and kept it at my home. 



During the last two or three weeks various insects have emerged 

 from the nest, and among others there appeared four or five specimens 

 of Fannia (HoniaJomyia) ins'ujnh, Stein, a Dipteron which has not 

 been previously recorded from Britain. 



I am indebted to Mr. E. E. Austen, of the Bi'itish Museum, for 

 kindly identifying it. A series of specimens of this species has been 

 presented to the Manchester Museum. 



Manchester Museum : 



June 2\st, 1910. 



TMeade's Homaloinyia vesparia bred from nest of Vespa fjcrmanica (Ent. 

 Mo. Mag'., 1891, 42), a species overlooked by Stein and by Meade himself in his 

 later writings, should be compared with the above, though Mr. Verrall is of the 

 opinion that Stein described Meade's species under tlie name ciliata. — J. E. C] 



Note on the British example of Apian cantianum, Wagner (= brevicorne, 

 ScliilsTcy). — In Heft xxxix of Kuster's "Die Kafer Eiu'opa's," No. 31 (published 

 in 1902), Schilsky has described a new species of Apion, from Britain, upon the 

 authority of a single specimen found by Commander Walker in the Chatham 

 district (in 1872 or 1874, probably at Chattenden), and communicated by me 

 with other British and continental forms when he was preparing his work for 

 publication. As this species is likely to be overlooked by British Coleopterists 

 (it had been completely forgotten liy myself, though the insect had long been 

 separated from A. filirostre in my cabinet), it is perhaps desirable to call atten- 

 tion to the above mentioned publication, in the hope that fiu'ther examples 

 may be found in our collections. I have seen many A. filirostre from Oxford, 

 Caterham, Mickleham, Guildford, &c., but cannot identify A. brevicorne amongst 

 them, and as the type remains in Schilsky's collection, it is no longer available 

 for comparison. The detailed description may be freely translated thus : — 



" Similar to A. filirostre in shape and colour, and at the same time very like 

 it, but with the antennae shorter and stouter, the thorax miich more finely 

 punct\u'ed, the anterior tibiae straight, the middle tibiae slender, and the pos- 

 terior tibiae curved at the base (straight in A. filirostre). Body black, shining, 

 apparently glabrous. Head broader than long, finely piuictured, smooth behind, 

 forehead finely striated, eyes moderately arched. Rostrum slender, almost 

 longer than the head and thorax togethei*, slightly curved, eqxially slender 

 throughout ; faintly and indistinctly punctiu-ed at the base, with a slight 

 prominence on each side above the points of insertion of the antennae, and 

 before these with a distinct transverse furrow (? constant) ; thence to the apex 



