1882. j 173 



Like Drymeia hamata, P. alpicola is sluggish in its habits ; it has not pre- 

 viously been recorded as British, nor mentioned I believe by any continental author 

 except Rondani. At the end of June and in the beginning of July last (1881), I 

 found both males and females in profusion in a field of mowing grass, on very high 

 ground, at Queensbury, between Bradford and Halifax. The flies were all located 

 in the corollse of buttercups (Ranunculus acris), and allowed themselves to be cap- 

 tured by the hand. I have not met with them in, nor received them from, any other 

 locality. 



10. OPHYBA, Desv. 



Gen. ch. — Eyes bare, large, contiguous or sub-contiguous in 

 males ; arista bare ; abdomen oval, furnished with soft hairs, but without 

 bristles ; alulets large, lower scale much longer than upper ; anal vein 

 of wings not reaching the margin ; posterior tibiae mostly curved and 

 ciliated ; colour metallic steel-blue or black. 



1. leucostoma, Fall. 2. anthrax, Meig. 

 The flies comprised in this small genus are characterized by their shining me- 

 tallic colour. In their habit they resemble some of the true Muscidce, as the 

 Lucilice, &c. The first species is generally distributed ; but the second (O. anthrax) 

 is local, though occuring in great abundance in some places. The only locality in 

 which I have seen it was at Buckingham, where it was swarming on a hedge near a 

 bone mill, which emitted a strong putrid smell. 



11. TEICHOPHTH1CUS, Bond. 



Lasiops, Meig. p. 



Gen. ch. — Eyes hairy, and contiguous or sub-contiguous in males ; 



arista sub-pubscent or bare ; epistome sometimes prominent ; alulets 



moderately developed, with unequal scales ; anal vein not prolonged 



to the margin of wing. 



1. cunctans, Meig. $ . 

 innoceMS ? , Zett. £ 

 decolor, Fall. ? . 



2. SEMIPELLUCIDTJS, Zett. 



3. pulcher, sp. n. 



4. ROSTRATUS, Sp. n. 



Meigen formed the genus Lasiops to include all those species of 

 Anthomyiidce which have hairy eyes and a pubescent arista. His de- 

 finition was so short and incomplete, that he grouped together several 

 species belonging to quite distinct genera ; and the genus Lasiops, as 

 described in the 7th vol. of his great work, really includes only two 

 characteristic species, for out of the five which he enumerates, one 

 (L. occulta) is a Hi/drotcea, another (L. apicalis) appears to be iden- 

 tical with Hyetodesia semicinerea, Wdm., and a third (Z. cenescens) 

 belongs to the genus Lonchwa among the Acalypterata. 



Besides L. cunctans, Meig., and L. hirticeps, Fall, (the two species 



