328 TABANID^. 



1. H^MATOPOTA. 



Hcematopota Meigen, Illig. Mag., ii., 267 (1803). 



Moderate-sized rather hairy flies of elongate shape and of 

 grey or greyish black colour broken up by lighter grey mark- 

 ings. Wings peculiarly ornamented by curved hyaline mark- 

 ings on a grey ground. 



Head (when seen from above) quite three times broader than long, with the back 

 part almost straight except for a slight notch in the middle in the male, and very 

 slightly concave with a slightly concave arch between the eyes in the female ; when 

 seen from in front the head is twice as broad as high. Face very broad in both 

 sexes, and descending considerably beneath the eyes so as to form broad but rather 

 flat jowls ■ immediately beneath the antennae there is a cross channel which (in the 

 female) rises up at the sides and separates the cheeks from the frons, and from 

 which two linear furrows descend and separate the very broad shelving side-cheeks 

 from the epistoma, and these furrows end in darkened pits near the mouth margin ; 

 face broad, side-cheeks and jowls light grey, the upper part of the side-cheeks 

 usually dotted with small black spots, and the face, cheeks, and jowls all bearing 

 long almost erect pale pubescence ; frons of the male reduced to a triangle above the 

 antennje (as the eyes touch or almost touch for a long space) and with a shining 

 usually black middle space, and only slightly protruding, but that of the female 

 occupying fully one-third the width of the head from the vertex to the antennae 

 and more or less grey with a shining usually black callus right across the lower 

 quarter close to the antenna, and above that callus with two widely separated 

 rounded dull black spots, and still further upwards with a smaller (often indis- 

 tinct) dark spot right out on the middle of the grey part of the frons which may be 

 an indication of the otherwise absent ocelli or ocellar space. Proboscis prominent, 

 and Avith broad sucker-flaps; palpi of the male porrect, with the second joint 

 elongate, ovo-conical, or somewhat pointed, and bearing long soft pubescence, of the 

 female elongate, pointed, and hanging down against the proboscis. Eyes of the male 

 (fig. 221) touching or almost touching for a long space, irregularly ovate, higher than 

 long but often narrowed towards their upper part (when seen sideways), densely hairy, 

 and with the facets enlarged except on about the lower quarter and the hindmargin ; 

 in life unicolorous brown or broAvnish green on the large facets, but on "the 

 lower part brown or purple with brilliant green or bluish or black zig-zag bands. 

 Eyes of the female (fig. 223) more circular because the facets are all equal, 

 widely separated and almost bare ; in life, brown or vivid green with broAvnish 

 purple or black zig-zag bands. Antenuie porrect, longer than the head; basal 

 joint long, and in the male considerably dilated and l)earing long thin pul)escence • 

 second joint short, cup-shaped, and bearing a circlet of short black bristles ; thircl 

 joint elongate, not humped near the base dorsally, and Avith its basal annulation 

 more or less stout near the base but tapering to its tip, and Avith the other three 

 annulations about as Avide as the tip of the first annulation and apjiearing to form 

 a stout blunt style ; this first annulation of the third joint is as long as or longer 

 than the other three together, and often appears to be divided again into further 

 sections, AA'hile the next tAvo annulations are almost transverse and the last one 

 longer than either of the tAvo i)revious ones ; third joint bare (unless microscopically) 

 except for some tiny black bristles Avhich often "occur in an incojnplete (mainly 

 dorsal) ring near its base. 



Thorax slightly longer than broad, black {^) or greyish black (?) (in British 

 species) Avith light grey stripes (sometimes indistinct in the male) Avhich sometimes 

 resolve themselves after the suture into light grey spots. Pubescence fairly long and 

 dense, suberect in the male, but sparse and more depressed and mainly light grey in 

 the female ; the pubescence is longer, shaggier, and pale over almost all the pleurae, 

 but the hypopleuraj are almost bare ; no bristles or bristly hairs occur anyAvhere. 

 Hcutellum lying fiat on the entirely hidden metanotum, and bearing pubescence 

 similar to that on the disc of the thorax. 



