5. ODONTOMYIA 143 



This species varies a little in the shape and colour of the abdominal 

 spots, especially in the form of their inner margins, and also in their size, 

 as they are sometimes rather more extensive than in the descriptions given 

 above; on the other hand they are occasionally smaller and narrower, 

 while the colour varies from orange up to obscure reddish, though 

 probably the darker and obscurer colours are caused by discoloration in 

 drying, especially in immature specimens, and in such specimens the 

 orange markings on the frons and face of the female may become very 

 obscure; the antenucB also vary a little in the amount of ferruginous 

 coloring. I possess a male from Bigot's collection, which as usual bears 

 no locality label, in which the abdominal spots are exceedingly extended 

 so that they all widely connect and form a broad orange band which 

 extends all round the margin, leaving only small black spots at the extreme 

 front angles of the segments. The large size and large conspicuous orange 

 spots on the abdomen readily distinguish it from any other species likely 

 to occur in Britain. 



0. ornata appears to be uncommon. I met with a few specimens in 

 Abbotts Wood in Sussex on June 25, 1876, but that is the only occasion upon 

 which I have seen it alive ; Mr J. H. A. Jenner has bred it from larva? 

 found in the Lewes marshes, and Eev. E. N. Bloomfield has taken it at 

 Guestling, but these two localities are not very far from Abbotts Wood. 

 I know of it from Kent (Wickham and Gravesend), Essex (Colchester), and 

 Middlesex (Acton). Duncan (1837) recorded it from Eoxburghshire and 

 near Edinburgh, "near London," Stephens's Catal., " Dalmeny," Rev. 

 William Little. I have records from May 10 to June 25. It is recorded 

 from all Europe except the extreme north, and is known to extend 

 to Italy and Sicily, but I do not know of any record from Spain or 

 Greece. 



Synonymy. — A male in the Hope Museum at Oxford is labelled "/e^wta." 



5. O. viridula Fabricius. Black. Abdomen transparent pale green, with 

 a broad unequal black dorsal line which is widest on the fourth segment. 

 Wings (fig. 127) with the subcostal and radial veins apparently anasto- 

 mosed ; discal cell small and with only one weU-defined issuing veinlet. 



S . Head large, being both broad and long, slightly broader than the thorax and 

 nearly as long from back to front as from top to bottom. Face and frons 

 shining black and forming a rather small almost equilateral triangle ; the 

 frons is flat and flush with the eyes, but the face is distinctly produced and 

 rises_ to a knob on the upper part just below the antenna? ; pubescence 

 Avhitish yellow, rather coarse and rather short, most conspicuous on the frons 

 and down the sides of the face near the eyes, but occurring more sparsely on 

 the rest of the face except on the bare middle line and knob ; in specimens in 

 perfect condition the frons and a pair of side face patches are (as in the 

 female) conspicuously glistening white ; after a short polished gap the lateral 

 pubescence is continued on the lower part of the eyemargins in a line to the 

 jowls ; jowls black, not small but flat and flush with the lower eyemargin ; head 

 behind_ the eyes somewhat hollowed and bearing some scarce pale pubescence 

 which is not visible against the eyes because the eyes arch over ; vertex very 

 slightly elevated, shining black, and rather long as it extends to a long point 

 between the eyes, and bearing short whitish pubescence behind and at the sides 

 right down to the lowest point ; proboscis black, concealed in the mouth- 

 opening. Eyes large, touching from the point of the vertex (which is nearly 

 half-way between the occiput and the antenna?) for about two-thirds of the 



