2. LEPTIS 275 



by Colonel Yerbury at Hever in Kent on July 8, 1907. In localities 

 where L. nigriventris occurs there seem to be always a number of 

 specimens which can only be considered dark forms of L. tringaria, and 

 it is only the remarkably distinct appearance of out and out L. nigriventris 

 that has caused me to describe it separately. My records extend from 

 May 28 to September 9. It is recorded from Lapland to Italy, but is rare 

 in the extreme north. 



Marchal (Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr., Lxxii., 233, 1903) has stated that the 

 larvae prey upon earthworms (Lumbricus). 



Synonymy. — In trying to work out the synonymy of this species it is well to 

 commence by understanding the species which is known in Central Europe as L. 

 tringaria. I take it that Kowarz was likely to know this, and in dealing with 

 the specimens in his collection I find a male from Orsova which has the humeri 

 sharply pale yellow ; the postalar calli right away down through the meta- 

 pleurse, pteropleurse, and upper part of the hypopleuree rather orange ; the scutellum 

 all orange ; the abdomen with narrow equal black sidemargins ; the coxae all pale 

 orange and with yellow pubescence except inside at just the tip, the hind femora and 

 tibiae not at all darkened, and even the tarsi only brown to the tip ; the wings long and 

 yellowish ; and this appears to me to agree with the species as distinguished by 

 Schiner, Strobl, etc., from its allies. A male from Franzensbad has the abdominal side- 

 margins with five almost disconnected black spots, the hind coxa? with a blackened 

 splash outside, and the trochanters blackened ; and a male from Asch has the 

 thoracal pubescence nearly all pale, the palpi with no black hairs, the metasternum 

 shining black, the abdomen almost without any dorsal black spots, not even the 

 posterior coxae with any black bristly liairs, and the wings shorter. A female from 

 Orsova is nearly all orange, but has pale brown thoracic stripes, the palpi with 

 almost wholly black hairs, but no black bristles on the coxae, and the abdomen 

 without any black spots ; and a female from Eger though mainly agreeing with the 

 one from Orsova is smaller and has no dark stripes on the thorax, the palpi without 

 any black hairs, and the posterior coxae with a few black bristles. 



Even these varying characters would appear to include L. jyunctata'LoQw, ?^\\A 

 L. Goehelii Strobl, but Loew contended that L. punctata had shorter pubescence ; two 

 males in Kowarz's collection under the name of L. 2nmctata can hardly be the same 

 species, one being as large and long winged as L. florentina, but without any stigma 

 { = L.florentina Loew), the orange coxee with mainly black bristles, the palpi exten- 

 sively black haired, the antennae almost wholly orange, the abdomen without any 

 black line on the sidemargins, and the legs orange with even the tarsi brownish 

 orange ; while the other specimen is remarkably small, but also has the antennae 

 almost wholly orange, and all the coxae with a few black bristles near the tip. Loew 

 in 1869 contended very strongly that L. punctata was distinct from L. tringaria, 

 but knowing how variable L. tringaria is I can only follow Strobl and Bezzi in 

 suppressing it. While i/.jiw7;c^rt^a was supposed to be a widely distributed short- 

 haired pale species closely allied to L. tringaria, L. tonsa Loew from Spain is 

 supposed to be a short-haired dark species with brownish wings and a still browner 

 stigma and considerably darkened femora and hind tibiae ; its status as a species or 

 variation is not yet well determined ; at the same time Loew described his L. 

 nigriventris which I have dealt with at some length and have treated as a species, 

 though I am convinced that it is only a dark black-bellied form of L. tringaria. 

 L. consjricna Meigen (of which I have seen the types) represents a perfectly distinct 

 species, which is very large, with long wings which have a black or conspicuous 

 brown stigma, blackish grey coxte and trochanters with no black bristles on the tip of 

 the coxge, long hind femora which are conspicuously blackened in the male or browned 

 in the female on the apical half, palpi darkened but with only pale pubescence in the 

 male and also in the type female but usually with a few black bristly hairs in 

 the female, and the thorax blackish grey with the interstices between the middle 

 and side stripes conspicuously lighter grey. Loew's L. florentina is closely allied to 

 L. consjnciia, but has no stigma, and has the palpi yellow with mainly black 

 pubescence, the hind femora hardly darkened at all, and I have no doubt is 

 represented by the large male L. punctata of Kowarz's collection just previously 

 mentioned, but from this species all Gobert's synonyms given in Kertesz's Katalog 



