1910.] 273 



CONOPS (BRACHYGLOSSUM) SIGNATA, Wiedemann : AN ADDITION 

 TO THE LIST OF BEITISH DIPTEBA. 



BY J. COLLINS. 



On September 11th last I brushed with my sweeping-net out of 

 a liirch bush at Tubney, Berks., a pair of Conopid flies. They were 

 probably in cop., but when I first noticed them in my net they were 

 apart. In the field they looked quite oi'dinary yellow Conops, and it 

 was only when I was examining them critically that I noticed each had 

 a very short and thick proboscis, in this respect being quite different 

 from any of the known British Conopids, all of which have a slender 

 proboscis, at least four times as long as in my specimens. 



Writing to Mr. Collin to ask him if he knew of a Conopid fly 

 with a short proboscis, he very kindly offered to examine my insects 

 for me, and I forwarded them to him. He returned them soon after- 

 wards as the above-named species, with a note on its distribution and 

 a reference to the literature, adding, " This is a Central and South 

 European species, its home appearing to be Italy. The best descrip- 

 tion is given by Loew (Dipterol. Beitr., iii, 1847, p. 2). Schiner also 

 described it in his ' Fauna Austriaca.' It is a fine addition to 

 our list." 



Oxford : October l%th, 1910. 



A few notes on the above species may be of interest, especially as 

 it appears in the Catalogue of Palsearctic Bvptera imder the wi'ong 

 name (brevirostris, Grerm.). It was first described by Wiedemann in 

 Meigen's Syst. Beschr. Eur. Dipt, iv, 134 (1824) as Conops signata, 

 then shortly afterwards* by Grerniar in Ahren's Faun. Ins. Em-. Fasc. 

 xiii, pi. 24, as Conops hrevirostris, and in 1843 by Eondani as 

 Leopold'ms erostratus. Loew dealt with it under the name hrevirostris 

 in 1847 (Dipt. Beitr., iii, 2) giving erostratus, Rdi., as a synonym, but 

 in 1853 (ISTeue Beitr., i, 27) having examined the type of sifjtiata, 

 Wied., he promptly adopted that name for the species, in which he 

 was followed by Schiner in 1862 (Faim. Austr. Dipt., i, 370). 



C. signata may be easily distinguished from the other species 

 having a short proboscis by its entirely black f rons with only the ocellar 

 region yellowish, and by its yellow legs with a dark sti'eak above at the 

 middle of the hind femora. Wiedemann's specimen was from Austria, 



* Germar'3 Fa.sc., xiii, mu.st have been publi.shed after Meigen's vol. iv, because Germar's 

 description of Conops silacea, Mg., figured on pi. 33 quotes the page upon which Meigen described 

 that species in his fourth volume. 



