348 



TABANID^ 



ocelli. Proboscis (figs. 227, 228) powerful, produced, and bearing rather large 

 sucker-flaps. Palpi very conspicuous, two-jointed, with the end joint elongate and in 

 the male (fig. 227) globular and outstanding with a more or less blunt tip : or in the 

 female (fig. 228) cylindrical and drooping to a point, lying on the proboscis and 

 mainly clothed with small depressed bristles ; basal joint short ovate and bearing 

 long pubescence. Eyes large ; very large in the male and touching for a long space, 

 but separated in the female by the frontal stripe which is from two to six times 

 longer than broad ; practically bare (Tahanm sens, strict.), or distinctly pubescent 

 {Therioplectes\ or sometimes only indistinctly pubescent in one or both sexes ; in life 

 brilliantly colored in some iridescent or opalescent tint of green, and usually 

 with purplish transverse bands, but in death these markings and colorings fade, 

 but can to a certain extent be renewed by damping, and the absence or presence 

 and number of these bands form useful specific distinctions ; in the male the 

 eye-facets are often conspicuously or moderately enlarged on the front and upper 



Fig. 227. — Thcrioplcctes (Hstitigiienihts S. x 22. 



Palpi and proboscis seen almost from 



beneath. 



Fig. 22S. — Tlicn02)lectcs disUngucndus 9- ;< 2 

 Palpi and proboscis seen sideways, and with 

 the proboscis depressed. 



parts and the extent or amount of this enlarging may also afford good distinctive 

 characters. Antennae as long as, or slightly longer than the head ; basal joint short 

 but longer than the second, and often produced cap-like over the base of the second, 

 bearing numerous short (usually black) bristles and usually some i-ather longer thin 

 hairs ; second joint also bearing numerous short black bristles placed more or less in 

 a subterminal circlet, and often dorsally produced cap-like over the base of the third 

 joint ; third joint elongate and segmented, the segments after the basal one forming. a 

 very stout style ; basal segment of the third joint large and long, enlarged about its 

 base and bearing on its upper side before or at the middle a peculiar hump (fig. 214) 

 which varies specifically from a moderately raised hump to an arched hook ; the style- 

 like terminal part of the third joint composed of four joints, of which the last is the 

 longest, and consequently the whole antenna apparently composed of seven segments. 

 Thoi-ax large, quadrate with rounded angles ; humeri distinct, with a large 

 rounded prsealar callus between them and the wing-base, and this callus often 

 rather difierently colored from the disc of the thorax. Pubescence on the disc 

 rather inconspicuous and usually composed of two distinct kinds of hairs, of which 

 one kind stands erect almost bristle-like over most of the disc and scutellum 

 (and is usually black) but does not exist on the front part of the disc, while the 

 other kind is hair-like and pale and lies more depressed all over the disc and at 

 least round about the margin of the scutellum and is much thinner and more liable 

 to be rubbed or worn away than the erect black hairs ; in addition to these there are 

 patches of depressed hairs above the wing-bases and against the postalar calli (which 

 are analogous to similar patches in the Anthracince) ; pleurte with longer shaggier 

 pubescence ; there are no bristles of any description on any part of the thorax or 

 scutellum. 



