2. BOMBYLIUS 505 



shorter than the coarser pubescence behind it, and agreeing with the main 

 pubescence on the frons ; ocellar space with some inconspicuous forwards- 

 directed black hairs between the ocelli. 



Thorax slaty grey with three broad light brownish stripes ; pubescence 

 dense as usual and mainly pale yellow, but brownish tawny on the three 

 brown stripes so that the middle stripe extends to the front but the broader 

 side stripes are considerably abbreviated anteriorly ; a few scattered black 

 hairs can usually be traced on at least the hind half of the disc ; there are 

 about three obvious reddish orange prsesutural bristles, and the large depressed 

 tufts of long pale hairs on the postalar calli are conspicuous, Scutellum with- 

 out the short scaly pale yellow pubescence which occurs so freely in />'. canescens, 

 and with some rather inconsjucuous upturned long hairs on the margin. 



Abdomen greyish black but obscured by the abundant long tawny and 

 pale yellow pubescence and by short almost scaly brownish yellow jiubescence 

 which does not occur in the male ; hindmarginal cross-rows of long strong 

 black hairs more conspicuous than in the male, and there is a row on the 

 hindmargin of the fourth segment, and even a sparse row on the fifth seg- 

 ment ; anus with only very short yellow pubescence. 



Legs almost as in the male but less darkened at the base of the femora, 

 and the antero-ventral bristles on the hind femora rather more numerous. 



Wings not at all brown about the base or fore part, though the thick 

 brownish subcostal vein tinges its neighborhood ; alulae lighter brown with a 

 blackish marginal line. 



Length about 8 mm. 



This species has numerous allies on the continent, but at present has 

 only one in Britain. J], cancscens is easily distinguished by its postocular 

 fringe of long black hairs and by the band of dense black hairs across the 

 upper part of the face ; other continental allies may be distinguished by 

 their blacker legs and differently placed discal cross- vein, and I think 

 that a black legged species occurs in England. It varies in the 

 extent of the darkening on the wings of the male, in the tint of the 

 pubescence, and I believe in the more or less distinctness of any stripes 

 of darker pubescence on the thorax of the female. B. minor has been 

 very seldom correctly recorded as British, as practically all the old records 

 referred to B. cancscens ; it is however probably a fairly common inhabitant 

 of the large commons in Dorsetshire, and it has also occurred in the Isle 

 of Wight ; the British Museum possesses a specimen from Barmouth, and 

 the Eev. E. N. Bloomfield recorded one as taken by Mr Tuck at Tostock 

 in Suffolk, but I suspect that that was only B. canesccns ; there are also 

 three or four specimens in the Entomological Club collection. It was 

 not uncommon on Studland Heath in Dorset on August 22 to 28, 1906, 

 but the males were extremely difficult to catch ; they could be detected 

 by their shadow or by their shrill humming note, but they dodged 

 any ordinary stroke of a net; the females were more easily captured 

 while hovering in front of low-lying blossoms, and some were taken on 

 August 24 and 26 at Arne on the flowers of sea lavender {Limoniuin). 

 It is a late summer insect as my records of dates extend from July 11 

 to August 28, but no specimens were found after the latter date. 



Synonymjj. — There can be no doubt that almost all the old English records of 

 B. minor referred to B. canescens, but several specimens of the true B. minor exist 

 in the Dale collection at Oxford mainly under the name of B. ctenoptertoi. A small 

 male in the Hope Museum (presumed to be British) labelled '"'' posticus " may be a 

 small B. cinerascens but is certainly not B. posticns ( = B. vidpinns); a larger male 

 in the same collection labelled minor (both in MS. and in j^rint) is B. fulvescens, 

 but has no history to prove it British. Walker's description probably referred 

 to the true B. minor because it is evident that his B. ctenopterns was founded on 

 B. canescens, but I do not trust his record for Scotland. 



