1881.) 3 



H. serya, Meig. 



The specific characters assigned to this species are insufficient to distinguish it 

 from its congeners, especially from H. hiconim and II. marmorata ; it may, however, 

 be easily determined by the following points of difference : in H. serva there are 

 only three bristles behind the transverse suture on the thorax, in each of the two 

 parallel longitudinal rows of setae which are placed between the middle and lateral 

 black stripes ; while in H. lucorum and H. marmorata, as in most of the higher 

 Anthomids, there are four bristles in each row behind the suture. In H. serva the 

 external transverse vein of the wings is straighter than in either of the other species, 

 and not clouded with brown. The abdomen in H. serva is without the rounded 

 black spots seen in R. lucorum, but marbled or tessellated as in H. marmorata. The 

 posterior tibiae of the males in H. serva have no long hairs or cilise on their inner 

 sides, while in H. lucorum they are thinly ciliated with a few long hairs along the 

 upper two-thirds of their inner surfaces, and in H. marmorata along their lower 

 two-thirds. H. serva is usually rather smaller than either of the other two species- 

 It is much less common than H. lucorum. 



H. dispar, Fall. 



There is no doubt but that this is synonymous with H. nivalis, Zett. Rondani 

 describes the latter species as having the posterior tibiae densely ciliated (" intus 

 sub-barhatis seu dense villosis"). He does not describe H. dispar, and neither 

 Fallen, Meigen,nor Zetterstedt says anything about the armature of the legs in either 

 species ; so, following Rondani, I named the first specimens of this fly that I saw 

 nivalis; but, upon obtaining typical individuals of H. dispar from the continent, I 

 found that they had also the beards on the posterior tibiae, and were in every way 

 identical with the English specimens named nivalis, so Fallen's name must stand. 

 This species is rare : I received one male from Mr. C. W. Dale (Dorset), and found 

 one in a collection of unnamed insects made by the late Mr. F. Walker. 



H. YAGANS, Fall. 

 I have introduced this species into the British list upon the authority of the 

 late Francis Walker ; but I have never seen a specimen, either English or continental, 

 that agrees with the description given by authors. Mr. Kowarz, of Franzensbad, 

 sent me two which he had taken from the collection of Professor Loew, in which they 

 were placed and named as vagans, but they were exactly similar in all points to H. 

 basalis of Zetterstedt, only of rather a larger size. The femora were all entirely 

 pale, and the palpi black, while in the description of vagans given by Fallen and 

 Meigen the anterior femora are given as partly black, and Meigen says the palpi are 

 red at the base. I suspect that H. vagans, Fall., and H. basalis, Zett., arc only 

 vai'ieties of the same species, but this can only be determined by the examination of 

 typical specimens in the collections of Fallen and Meigen. 



H. SCUTELLARIS, Fall. 



This species varies very much in several particulars, and has, on this account, 



been described under several different names. Sometimes the antennae are entirely 



black or grey, at other times the first two joints are rufous. In some specimens the 



arista is longer-haired than in others. The scutellum is sometimes entirely yellow. 



