10. LAPHRIA 699 



recurrent veinlct near the base of the upper branch. Squampe (alar) very 

 small and blackish, with practically no fringe. Halteres dull orange or 

 yellow. 



? . Rather like the male, but the abdomen broader and rounder and the general 

 pubescence more e(iually greyish yellow or greyish orange. 



Head with much more black pubescence, the face-beard being mainly 

 black though the ti^ts of the hairs may be rusty and several long hairs on the 

 lower part are brownish yellow, or it may be said that the porrect hairs are 

 almost all black but the long drooping hairs pale, while the eyemargins on 

 the upper half of the face are nari'owly brownish yellow and bear brownish 

 yellow hairs ; chin- and jowl-beards all black, as well as almost all the hairs 

 on the back of the head and on the f rons, but the two very long hairs on the 

 ocellar space remain yellow (or rarely one of them black). Proboscis with 

 blackish or rusty black pubescence beneath its basal half. Antenna3 with 

 nearly all the hairs on the basal joints black except two long ones beneath 

 the tip of the basal joint. 



Thorax almost as in the male. 



Abdomen broader, rounder, and with the pubescence more equal both in 

 colour and in texture, that on the segments after the second or third being 

 neither so long nor so dense. Belly with thin erect hardly scarce black hairs 

 and a few rusty ones near the base, while beneath the sixth segment the 

 hairs are longer and stronger. Ovipositor (including the seventh and eighth 

 abdominal segments) small, shining black, elongate triangular and bent down- 

 wards, and composed of three segments of which each is narrower than the 

 preceding one, while the last one ends in almost a point at which there is 

 porrected brownish yellow pubescence, and the two basal segments ( = seventh 

 and eighth abdominal segments) wth sparse black hairs on their sides. 



Legs with more extensive black pubescence, especially on the front coxae ; 

 hind tibiae without the short blunt spur but Avith an orange bristle-like spur. 



Wings almost as in the male, but in all the British specimens I ha,ve seen 

 the upper branch of the cubital fork throws back a recurrent veinlet of 

 varying length from near its base, and in one case this recurrent veinlet is 

 connected by an adventitious cross-vein with the stem of the cubital cell so 

 that a small quadrangular cell is formed. Halteres darker. 



Length about 18 mm. (16 to 20 mm.). 



This species does not vary much in British specimens except in size 

 and in the variation of the colour of the pubescence from pale greyish 

 yellow to ruddy orange. At one time the European species was thought to 

 be very variable, but it is now believed that several closely allied species 

 exist. I find however that continental specimens of the true L. flava vary 

 in having no black hairs on the jowls against the eyes or on the lower 

 part of the back of the head while the short pale hairs on the front half 

 of the thorax may be so obscurely brownish yellow as to be almost 

 imperceptible even when seen sideways, the male genitalia may bear a few 

 stray yellow hairs, the pubescence behind the anterior femora may be pale 

 and that beneath the front tibiae may be all reddish orange, the longer 

 bristles on the front tarsi may be yellowish, the middle tibise may have 

 entirely pale yellow pubescence even beneath the tip, and the hind femora 

 may have scarcely any black pubescence. A Sicilian male has all the 

 pubescence on the femora black except a few long straggly antero-dorsal 

 hairs on the hind pair, and all the pubescence on the hind tibise black, 

 and even (which is still more remarkable) the drooping side bristles on 

 the tarsi all black. L. (jihbosa and L ephippium are two allied species 

 which may possibly occur in the Scotch Highlands. 



Z. flava was first taken in Britain by Mr W. A. Vice at Strathdon in 

 Aberdeenshire in August 1873; the next record was of two specimens 



