182 SPRATIOMYID.E 



on small female specimens of S. h-idatus, and the types in Meigen's collection at 

 Paris confirm that view, wliicli is also the view taken by Lundbeck. Time and 

 more specimens may clear up the doubts. 



7. S. nuTbeculosus Zetterstedt. Small. Legs mainly black, but with 

 the knees orange. Wings distinctly clouded about the middle. Postocular 

 outstanding ciliation of the male black on all the lower part. 



A very unsatisfactory species, which may possibly be only a 

 small dark variety of S. cupi^arius. 



cJ. Small, but otherwise very similar to *S'. cuprarius. Frons with the two white 

 spots small but rather sharply defined ; pubescence greyish white from the 

 vertex to the upper ocelli ; back of the head with an outstaTuliiig ciliation as in 

 S. cuprarius, but all black except just behind the vertex • this ciliation is quite 

 distinct from the short stubby black postocular ciliation which occurs in most 

 of the species of Sargus, and proves its relationship to ^S'. cuprarius and S, 

 iridatus which have a similar but all-white outstanding ciliation ; the short 

 stubby black postocular ciliation is not so dense as in S. ctqyi^arius. 



Thorax with entirely pale greyish-white pubescence as in S. ciipraritis. 



Abdomen with the pubescence on the sides of the fourth and fifth segments 

 all black except on the extreme basal corners of the fourth segment. 



Legs black, with the knees narrowly but obviously orange ; in one 

 specimen (Cambridge) the hind knees are not more extensively orange than 

 the anterior, but in another (Musselburgh) the base of the hind tibiae is 

 obscurely orange for a short distance ; hind tarsi not at all orange at their 

 base. 



Wings slightly smoky, with a distinct blackish cloud about the middle as 

 in S. cuprarius. Squamae very much blackened ; thoracal pair very narrow, 

 club-shaped. 



$ . Very similar to the male, and scarcely differing from the female of ;S'. cuprari^is 

 except in size. It is supposed to differ from ,S. cuprarius by the hind tarsi 

 being black to the very base, but I possess several very small individuals in 

 which the hind tarsi are as orange about the base as any S, cuprarius, and on 

 the other hand some undoubted specimens of >S'. cuprarius in which the hind 

 tarsi are entirely black. 

 Length about 7 mm. 



This species needs comparison with only S. cuprarius, of which it may 

 be a small dark variety. 



S. nuheculosus is apparently very little known in the male sex ; a pair 

 were sent to me by Mr W. Evans which were taken by him at Levenhall 

 quarry, Musselburgh, on July 29, 1901, and Mr F. Jenkinson took a male 

 in his garden at Cambridge on July 7, 1904; I have seen probable females 

 from Sussex, Surrey, Suffolk (a few specimens in my own garden, including 

 two on one day), and Monmouth. My dates extend from July 2 to 

 August 14. It is recorded from Scandinavia to Austria. 



Since writing the foregoing I found some Saj^gi in numbers at Newnham, 

 Cambridge, on August 3, 1906, and seeing them with infuscated wings and 

 apparently of various sizes I thought I should clear up all doubts, but to 

 my surprise a subsequent examination showed that I had taken a male 

 and female of true >S^. cuprarius, and four smaller males, which all had 

 the outstanding ciliation behind the eyes black except on the upper part 

 and which also had the hind tarsi hardly pale at the base ; these specimens 

 therefore tend towards proving the distinctness of the species. 



