5. SYMPHOROMYIA 297 



S. meloena has often been recorded from Britain and may occur here ; it is nearly 

 as large as S.crassicornis but is a blacker insect with the wings and squamae blackened 

 in both sexes, long and dense black pubescence on the frons and side-cheeks of the 

 male, basal antennaljoint short, frons of the male large and inflated. I do not know 

 the distinctive characters of S. grisea, but I believe it has normal antennae and 

 yellowish wings. 



1. S, crassicornis Panzer. Basal joint of antennae elongate, con- 

 siderably dilated, and conspicuously pubescent. 



A Leptid with the appearance of a moderate - sized 

 Antho7nyia. 



S • Head broader than the thorax. Face broad and rather large, with especially 

 wide side-cheeks ; face and side-cheeks light grey and quite bare • the small tri- 

 angular frons blackish grey and also quite bare ; jowls and back of the head 

 darker grey, the jowls being very broad and bearing rather dense fairly long 

 black pubescence intermingled with which are some longer straggling pale 

 hairs ; lower part of the back of the head inflated but abruptly narrowing, and 

 bearing on the upper quarter only a single line of longer upright {i.e. not 

 overhanging) black bristly hairs ; vertex rather large and leather elevated, 

 triangular, greyish brown, and bearing black bristly hairs which point rather 

 forwards. Proboscis large, but not so long as the palpi, and bearing a 

 slight black pubescence on the underside ; palpi very long and equally thick, 

 slightly drooping about the tip, greyish black, and densely clothed with 

 conspicuous long black pubescence, but with some rather long pale pubescence 

 beneath the basal joint. Eyes almost touching for a very short space, 

 quite bare ; facets enlarged on the upper two-thirds and rather abruptly 

 contrasted with the smaller facets on the lower third. Antenna (fig. 195) 

 rather long, because the basal joint is enormously dilated and lengthened ; 

 basal joint greyish black and clothed with dense long black pubescence ; 

 second joint by contrast very small and short, and with a few very short 

 bristly hairs above and beneath ; third joint kidney-shaped, apparently nearly 

 twice as deep as long^ arista quite as long as the antennae and almost 

 geniculate just before its middle, rather thin up to the geniculation but 

 thinner and tapering afterwards, bare and inserted more towards the front 

 part than towards the base of the third joint. 



Thorax greyish black, with three very indistinct darker stripes of whicli 

 the middle one is rather narrow while the side ones are broad in certain lights : 

 pubescence not dense but black, erect, and fairly long all over the disc, ancl 

 with each hair originating from a punctate dot ; pleurae grey, bearing rather 

 long black pubescence on the mesopleurae and similar but greyish pubescence 

 on the metapleurae. Scutellum dark grey, with rather longer pubescence than 

 that on the thorax especially towards the tip. 



Abdomen rather attenuated and rather compressed, about as long as the 

 thorax and head (without the antennte), dark ashy grey. Pubescence fairly 

 abundant but never dense, and each hair arising from a punctate dot. Belly 

 arched from side to side, dark ashy grey, and bearing similar pubescence to 

 that on the upper side. Genitalia obvious ; side lamellte rather large and 

 with two smaller elongate club-shaped intermediate lamellai. 



Legs black with the knees narrowly orange ; coxae with rather abundant 

 blackish pubescence ; femora with black not scarce rather inconspicuous 

 pubescence ; hind tibiae with a slight postero-ventral fringe and also with a 

 still slighter antero-dorsal one ; the two spurs on the middle tibiae and the 

 one on the hind tibiaj distinct ; " touch-hairs " absent or exceedingly faint. 

 Pulvilli obscurely yellowish ; claws black, rather small. 



Wings smoky with an orange tinge about the base and with the marginal 

 cell darkened towards its tip so as to form a slight stigma ; veins blackish 

 after the basal part ; fourth posterior cell sometimes a little narrowed towards 

 the wingmargin ; anal cell narrowly open. Squamae (alar) moderate in size, 

 glassy yellowish with pale margins, and with a short pale fringe above the 



