248 [November, 



Spinicincta. — Mr. Collin meets ^dtli it at Newmarket as a winter 

 and early spring species. My own specimens, five in number, have 

 been taken in tlie garden or house from late August to October. The 

 female has not yel: been identified, and should probably be looked for 

 among the puzzling nondescript forms at the end of Section C. It 

 would almost to a certainty want the long hairs on the Gth abdominal 

 segment so characteristic of the male, whilst the costa, which in the 

 male approaches the limit assignable to Section D, might have just 

 that extra length (a common female characteristic) , which would lead 

 one to place it in tlie other Section. 



Sylvatica. — Not a common species ; taken perhaps most often in 

 May or a little later, and occasionally in the autumn. It seems to be 

 a counterpart on a small scale of scufellariii in Section C, the chief 

 distinction being the marked difference in the length of the costa, con- 

 siderably less than half the wing length (f ) in sylvatica and fully half 

 in scutellaris. Other differences are the much smaller size of sylvatica, 

 its darker body colour bi;t paler wings, the coming off of the first thin 

 vein at the fork instead of beyond it, and with a less pronounced curve, 

 and the more moderate development of the hairs \mderneath the hind 

 femora. 



Hirticaudata. — A very small and scarce species, of which I have 

 picked up at one time or another in my home district five examples, all 

 males — four of them in the sprmg months, March, April and May, 

 and one in July. The bristly hairs at the end of the abdomen give it 

 a rough resemblance to invohda, but in that species the hairs become 

 weaker in passing on to the hypojjygium instead of stronger and more 

 bristly as in hirticaudata, whilst the bare pleura; in the one case and 

 their bristly natu]-e in the otlier will always satisfactorily distinguish 

 them. 



Manicata. — A common and widely distributed little species. Mr. 

 Collin has long been acquainted with it ; indeed, it was from him I bor- 

 rowed the name. Mainly an autiunnal insect, it is often to be found on 

 the flowers of Angelica and Hcracleioit. The male, with its strikingly 

 swollen metatarsi, is quite imlike any of its neighbours, but the female 

 has nothing distinctive about it, and closely resembles in size and 

 general appearance the female of the next species. I believe, however, 

 they may be satisfactorily separated by the texture of the frons — 

 smooth and almost shining in manicata, dull and rough looking from 

 the coarse pubescence in hirsuia. It must not be confused with the 

 little black conformis in Section C. There, however, the metatarsi are 



