9. EPITRIPTUS 687 



ovipositor ; ovipositor very narrow and long, and the part following on from 

 the sixth and seventh abdominal segments nearly as long as those two 

 segments together, and therefore the ovipositor as formed from the sixth 

 segment onwards quite as long as the third, fourth, and fifth segments 

 together ; the end lamellaj longer than usual ; pubescence of the ovipositor 

 very sparse but comparatively long and to a large extent black. 



Legs with the pubescence on the upper part of the femora all short, but 

 longer beneath and behind, and practically all pale ; in fact the pubescence 

 is all yellow or tawny but the bristles are mainly black ; tarsi rather blacker 

 than in the male. 



Length about 13 mm. 



This species is easily distinguished from N. cyanurus by the less 

 shining (not steel blue) sixth and seventh abdominal segments, by the 

 shorter m^ore clubbed genitalia of the male, and by the longer and much more 

 extensive yellow pubescence and bristles on the legs, while perhaps the 

 handiest distinction of all lies in the rather conspicuous orange base of 

 the anterior tarsi, but before depending upon this character specimens 

 should be compared with N. socius. 



iV". cothurnatus was caught by Mr W. Holland at Stow Wood near 

 Oxford on June 10, 1895, and was taken by him again at Tubney Wood in 

 Berkshire on June 2, 1901; on the first occasion he took one male, and 

 upon the second occasion one of each sex, and upon one occasion he took 

 also a male of N. cyanurus in the same wood ; it is probably not uncommon 

 in the Oxfordshire and Berkshire woods if the right time and place can be 

 found, but subsequent searches have so far produced only N. cyanurus. 

 It was reputed as British by Walker in his List of Diptera in the British 

 Museum, i.,467 (1849), and is recorded from Middle Europe up to Sweden 

 and Finland. 



9. EPITRIPTUS. 



Epitri'ptus Loew, Linn. Ent., iv., 108 (1849). 



Yellowish ashy grey or greyish yellow species of moderate 

 or almost small size (for Asilince). Legs ringed or streaked 

 with orange. 



Face not specially narrow- facial knob well developed and bearing a coarse- 

 haired or bristly face-beard, which leaves the upper and outer thirds of the face 

 bare ; festoon varying from being practically absent {E. inconstam) to being well 

 defined and composed of rather short stout bristles which are scarcely curved 

 forwards {E. ciiKjulatus). AntenntB normal ; third joint hardly tapering to a point ; 

 style normal. 



Thorax with the usual short bristly pubescence all over the disc (including the 

 dark stripes), which is (though longer towards the hind part) veiy distinct from the 

 large bristles. Bristles consisting of two strong pra^sutural with a weaker one more 

 forward, one (or two) supra-alar, two postalar, about six dorso-central of which 

 about four (4-6) are postsutural and one or two praisutural, the last dorso-central 

 being about as strong as the others ; metapleural and hypopleural fans distinct, 

 but usually rather hair-like ; in noting the bristles it may be observed that 

 commonly there is only one strong supra-alar and sometimes only one strong post- 

 alar. Scutellum with from two to four uptiu'ned marginal bristles. 



Abdomen with bristles at the sides just before the hindmargins of the segments, 

 and these bristles are often reduced to two isolated ones on each side of each 

 segment, but sometimes {E. mu/uhUus) there are several rather strong hairs of 

 which two or three on each side are just strong enough to be termed bristles ; 

 eighth ventral segment of the male with a straight hindmargin. Genitalia of the 



