274 LEPTID^ 



obscure brownish orange, but the knees obscurely paler and the front legs 

 with a conspicuously darkened tint though by no means blackish ; posterior 

 femora with black points at the knees externally ; coxae all rather lighter 

 than in the male and with the black hairs reduced to one or two on the 

 Dosterior pairs ; tarsi all black except the base of the middle pair. Wings 

 ess orange ; subcostal vein all orange. Squamae with orange markings. This 

 :'emale would answer to L. nigriventris. 



Some specimens from Nethy Bridge appear to come closest to the 

 continental type form, as they have the coxae entirely of an equal pretty 

 orange colour (except that the hind pair have anterior blackish reflections), 

 the palpi without any black hairs, the sides of the thorax and the pleura 

 more orange, the abdominal black spots small and sliarj^ly defined, and the 

 black sidemargins restricted and sharply defined, while the five basal 

 segments of the belly are clear orange. 



A remarkable variety of the female occurred at Mildenhall in Sufi'olk on 

 September 8, 1885, which has quite a large patch of rather bristly hairs on 

 the jowls just under the eyes, and this same specimen has nearly all the hairs 

 on the metapleurae, as well as several on the upper part of the prothorax black, 

 but has the coxae almost all orange and the belly to a large extent blackish. 



A male taken at Cusop Dingle in Herefordshire on September 7, 1900, has 

 curiously monstrous venation as the left wing has an adventitious cross-vein 

 above the discal cell soon after the discal cross-vein, while the right wing has 

 the discal cross-vein anastomosing with the cubital vein and soon after that 

 with two adventitious cross-veins of which one is before and one after the 

 middle of the discal cell. 



It will be seen that there is no specific value to be attached to the colour 

 of the coxae or the presence or absence of black bristly hairs on their tips, to 

 the colour of the second joint of the antennae or of the humeri and not much 

 to that of the pleurae, to the isolation or connection or size of the abdominal 

 dorsal spots, to the absolute yellow coloring or almost entire blackish 

 coloring of the four basal ventral segments, to the darkened tips of the hind 

 femora and tibiae or base of the tarsi, to the presence or absence of short pale 

 hairs on the disc of the thorax and scutellum, or to the size of the 

 specimens. 



This species after allowing for its manifold variations is easily dis- 

 tinguished from any other British species except L. annulata by its 

 immaculate wings without any distinct stigma, and from that species it 

 may be known by its pale palpi and black-haired abdomen. L. nigriventris 

 though now treated as a distinct species is probably only a very dark 

 variety and intermediate specimens cannot be determined with certainty. 

 It does not seem to vary so much in Central Europe and consequently 

 writers there have laid too much stress upon such characters as its yellow 

 coxae, wherefrom English students are liable to be ndsled, but undoubtedly 

 two or three closely allied species do occur in Europe and I have dealt 

 with these in my synonymical notes. 



L. trinijaria is rather common in suitable localities, such as amongst 

 shrubs on damp ground, and I have taken it from Cornwall (Penzance) to 

 Sutherland while Haliday has recorded it from Holy wood in Co. Down, but 

 it has a tendency to form distinct-looking races. Omitting the extreme 

 form, L. nijiriventris, which I have treated as a distinct species, the Black 

 Mountain form (occurring at an elevation of about 2000 feet) is a very 

 dark one in which all the coxse are mainly Ijlackish grey, the hind femora 

 and tibiae considerably darkened at their tips, and the minute pale hairs on 

 t!i8 thorax extended (though inconspicuously) to the front part, while the 

 black sidemargins of the abdomen are so irregular as to almost form a row 

 of black spots ; an extremely large (12 mm.; male of a dark form was taken 



