2. TABANUS 397 



referred to T. sudeticus or to the Irish variety I mention later on, 

 but he also recorded "Monk's Wood, Hunts," and said it was not 

 uncommon in Cambridgeshire ; Jenyns also recorded it from near Swaffham 

 Bulbeck in Cambridgeshire on June 30, and from the date I should 

 imagine that the species was correctly named but I have not been 

 able to find it myself in this neighborhood. My dates are mainly 

 from June 16 to July 15, but I believe I have a record as late as August 7, 

 and Mr H. AV. Andrews gave me a record of August 17. The males are 

 said to hover in forest clearings and on somewhat high meadow pastures 

 (but not on mountain tops), especially early in the morning on sultry 

 days when the sun is shining after violent showers. It is recorded from 

 practically all Europe (including Siberia and North Africa, but excluding 

 Greece and Spain) and from Caffraria. 



Sinionymy. — All old British records are a mixture of this species and T. mdeticvs 

 It has been contended that Linne's species must be T. sudeticus because he said " In 

 " genere suo hie maximus est," but in answer to that it is only certain that the 

 conglomerate was the largest species known to Linne, and it was not until the two 

 species were separated that 7'. sudeticus could claim to be the largest ; also Linne 

 said " oculis virescentibus " and (as Zeller himself pointed out) " Dorsmn abdominis 

 " sub alls magis flavescit, extra eas magis fuscum," Avhich seems to prove his species 

 to have a more yellowish abdomen than T. sudeticus, so we can safely continue to 

 accept Linne's name for the tawny species without any misgivings. 



11. T. sudeticus Zeller. Eyes unicolorous, with the facets unequal in 

 size in the male. Abdomen of both sexes but little ferruginous and with 

 only one row of dorsal spots. Very large species. 



The largest British fly, as far as bulk is concerned; less 

 fulvous than T. hovinus. 



$. Frontal triangle and face rather darker than in T. hovinus; pubescence on 

 the cheeks usually but not always darkish brown or even blackish, on the 

 jowls longer and brownish yellow ; back of the head and vertex almost as in 

 T. hovinus ; ocellar tubercle less blackisli, and at the back part with very short 

 pubescence which is usually dull orange but sometimes partially black. Palpi 

 dull orange to brownish orange, not quite so long as in T. hovinus, and with 

 the numerous bristly hairs sometimes all black except on the underside but 

 sometimes extensively yellow ; basal joint with long orange pubescence and 

 with a few black hairs about the tip. Eyes in life (according to Brauer) almost 

 unicolorous coppery blackish, but when dry the large facets become greyish 

 and the small ones more reddish ; facets unecpial, those on the upper 

 three-fifths being distinctly larger than those on the lower two-fifths, and 

 the boundary line between them rather sharply defined across the eye 

 and beginning in front at about the middle of the frontal triangle and 

 curving down and round to the back and then upwards so that a narrow 

 strip of small facets extends about half-way up the hindmargin. Antennae 

 reddish brown from the base to just after the hump on the third joint ; basal 

 joints bearing tiny almost exclusively black bristles without any longer pale 

 hairs ; third joint much longer and thinner than in T. bovimis and, although 

 the hump stands out high on the basal quarter, twice as long as deep. 



Thorax moderately shining brownish black (as contrasted with the dull 

 greyish black of T. hovinus) with scarcely any glaucous hue and with scarcely 

 any trace of paler stripes. Pubescence more dense than in T. hovinus, because 

 the more numerous intermixed depressed thin pale hairs and the pale tuft on 

 the front part of the postalar calli are longer and more conspicuous ; pleurae 

 with brownish yellow rather than pale grey or pale brownish yellow 

 pubescence, and with a very large conspicuous patch of black hairs on the 



