9. MICROCHRYSA 195 



Legs with comparatively small brown rings on the posterior, or only hind, 

 femora ; tibiae as in the male. 



Wings and squamae as in the male. Halteres pale yellow. 

 Length about 4 mm. 



This species is very closely allied to M. Jlavicornis, but is as Zetterstedt 

 said " certe distincta," and it may easily be known by the blackish abdomen 

 in both sexes and the blackish frons of the female. The slight pale 

 lunules on the frons of the female obviously represent the white spots 

 which occur there in Sargus and Nemotelus. 



M. cyaneiventris is probably not uncommon in at any rate the northern 

 part of England and in Scotland, while probably Haliday caught it in 

 Ireland, but although Colonel Yerbury and I have often taken it we have 

 always mistaken it for M. flavicornis at the time of capture; it must 

 however be borne in mind that it was not until 1901 that we knew there 

 was such a species, because it had been sunk by Loew as a mere synonym 

 of the rather common M. Jlavicornis. I have records from Devonshire (Tor 

 Cross and Lynton), Norfolk (Mundesley), Oxfordshire (Shotover), Hereford- 

 shire (Cusop, Stoke Wood), Worcestershire (Bewdley), Lancashire (Coni- 

 ston), Yorkshire (Burley-in-Wharfedale), Glamorgan (Porthcawl), Merioneth 

 (Dolgelly), Fife (Aberdour), Perthshire (Eannoch), Inverness (Nethy 

 Bridge), Nairn (Nairn), Elgin (Forres), Sutherland (Golspie), and the 

 Orkneys, from June 6 to September 1. I first took it at Coniston on 

 July 19, 1876, but did not distinguish it until describing for this work 

 early in 1901. It is at present recorded from only Scandinavia and Britain. 



Synanymy. — AVhen Zetterstedt first described this species in 1842 he said "Similis 

 ^^ pai/ijxcU, sed — certe distincta," and therefore Loew in 1855 was not justified in 

 hastily suppressing it as a mere variation, and in fact Loew did harm in his suggestion, 

 because from that day to this there has Ijeen a fixed idea that there were only two 

 species of Microchrysa in Europe ; it is possible that Loew was led into error through 

 Walker's hopeless jumble in 1851 of C. Jlavicornis, C. pallipes, and C cyaneiventris 

 in which he must have partly mixed up M. cyaneiventris with his C . Jlavicornis when 

 he said " Abdomen — cupreous-black," thougli it is probable that his C. cyaneiventris 

 was the female of the true species as identified by Haliday. 



