272 LEPTID.^ 



The preceding description is made from ordinary Britisli specimens, 

 but there are innumerable variations from it and I believe also local races. 

 The variations which I have observed lie in the following characters : — 



(J . Thorax with considerable variation in the extent of the testaceous coloring 

 and in the distinctness of the dark stripes, so that sometimes the disc of the 

 thorax is rather tinged with yellowish and at other times is rather dark grey ; 

 or the thorax may have three narrow light grey lines alternating with four 

 broad dark grey stripes. 



Abdomen varying very much in the extent of the orange and black 

 markings, the dorsal spots being sometimes diamond-shaped or larger, with 

 the spot on the fifth segment triangular and broadly touching the fore- 

 margin and with broad blackish sidemargins, or the spot on the fifth segment 

 triangular so as to form a solid V-shaped black spot from the fore- 

 margin to a point on the middle of the hindmargin, and the sixth segment 

 often black with a very narrow orange hindmargin. Belly sometimes 

 beginning to become darkened after the middle of the third segment, or 

 with the first, third, and fourth (especially the fourth) segments with 

 blackish reflections of which a trace may exist on the second segment. 



Legs varying slightly in colour ; front coxse not infrequently with a strong 

 blackish tinge in front on all the basal half, and at the same time the posterior 

 coxce nearly all greyish black with abundant grey dust, or in some small 

 specimens the coxse may be still darker. 



? . Frons ranging from light yellowish grey to brownish orange and even with an 

 almost blackish middle space ; palpi varying in every gradation from entirely 

 yellow pubescence in pale specimens to being very extensively black haired 

 dorsally to almost the tip. 



Thorax sometimes yellowish brown-grey with the sidemargins so little 

 testaceous that scarcely more than the humeri and the lower side of the 

 postalar calli are testaceous, while the pleurae are nearly all obscured with 

 blackish grey tints or on the other hand have the ground colour nearly all 

 testaceous so that the sides, hindmargin, and pleurse are practically all 

 that colour. 



Abdomen varying infinitely from orange to black, as a dark specimen 

 may have large irregular black bands across the basal half of the second, 

 third, and fourth segments, while the sidemargins are much more widely 

 black and connected with the dorsal blackenings ; or on the other hand a 

 pale specimen may have the abdomen all orange (var. vanellus) except for an 

 indistinct small dark spot on the disc of the second and third segments, and 

 may have even the fifth to seventh segments almost all greyish orange. Belly 

 sometimes all black except for the dark orange second segment (which may 

 have a darkened middle line) ; pubescence on the belly sometimes with a few 

 pale hairs on the two basal segments and also near the hindmargins of the 

 sixth and seventh segments. 



Legs sometimes with a blackish grey anterior patch on the front coxae 

 near the base and towards the inner side, in which case the front coxse may 

 bear a very few black bristles about the tip, and Avhen the front coxse are 

 like this the posterior coxse may be greyish yellow with even an obscure 

 blackish tint, 



A male taken near Barton Mills in Suffolk (upon which I originally 

 recorded L. nigriventris Loew as British) has the abdomen very much 

 blackened and with large dorsal spots, and the belly all darkened (but not 

 blackened) except on the basal segment ; the pale hairs on the back of the 

 head extend more towards the vertex ; palpi slightly darkened at the base ; 

 humeri pale greyish yellow and the space behind them light grey ; postalar 

 calli hardly at a:ll orange ; pleurse all clear light ashy grey with a very faint 

 yellow tinge ; pubescence all over the disc of the thorax and scutellum 

 showing a fair number of short pale hairs intermixed Avith the black hairs, 

 and the yellow hairs becoming longer and more numerous and almost con- 

 spicuous about the hindmargin of the thorax. Abdomen scarcely contracted 

 until the seventh segment and then only so much that the fifth segment is 



