734 ASILID^ 



paler and sometimes almost wliite so that they become even more conspicuous 

 than in the male, and the pubescence on the stripes yellow or pale yellow ; 

 metapleural fan yellow. 



Abdomen with the intersegmental membranes usually more distinct 

 than in the male, but the orange on the actual hindmargins very slight and 

 limited to near the sides ; abdomen slightly widening after the third segment, 

 but curving back to the eighth segment which is narrower than the third ; 

 the very short pubescence black, but brownish yellow and depressed on the 

 ovipositor, while the bristles on the sides of the hindmargin of the basal 

 segment are brownish yellow. 



Legs with the pubescence on the cox^ pale or brownish yellow, but all 

 bristles dark orange ; furry pubescence beneath the hind femora and tibi^ 

 pale yellow ; tiny bristles on the tarsi more brownish orange. 



Wings much lighter colored than in the male, though occasionally the 

 contrast between the basal half and the rest is almost as obvious. 



Length about 10-5 mm. 



This species varies in British specimens only as mentioned above, but 

 Loew recorded a variety of the female with remarkably pale legs, and I 

 found a similar specimen in Bigot's collection which (amongst many other 

 distinctions) has the anterior legs orange or brownish red, and I think 

 that such a variety has not been recorded since Loew's description in 

 1847. It has no very close European ally. 



D. atricapilla is not recorded from many districts, but is common in 

 a few localities in the southern half of England, such as the New Forest 

 and other parts of Hampshire; I have other records from Kent 

 (Colonel Yerbury says it is common at Gravesend), Suffolk (Mr C. Morley 

 records it from Tostock and Wortham), Gloucester (Painswick, and Mr 



C. J. Wainwright says it is common in a very local area at Selsley), and 

 Worcestershire (Worcester, Wyre Forest, and Malvern). It is recorded 

 from all Europe. Loew stated that the male appears considerably earlier 

 than the female, but my records only give a very immature male on 

 May 29 with both sexes fully mature from June 11 to July 15. 



Synonymy. — Loew's synonymy of 1847 appears to be accepted, except that 

 D.fuscijy'es has since been recognised as a distinct species which is commonin Sicily. 

 Bigot's collection contained a number of correctly determined specimens with which 

 one female Isojiogon hrevirostris was associated, and in addition ten specimens (of 

 which six purported to be males and four females) stood under the name of 



D. nigripes Meig. all of which were females of D, atricapilla, while there was one 

 old specimen labelled D. Falleni. 



2. D. oelandica Linne. Wings very much darkened in both sexes. 

 Legs orange, but the tarsi and the tip of the tibiae black. 



A large handsome fly with long legs and wings. 



(J. Shining black. Face hardly widening from the antennae to the mouth, 

 shining black across just beneath the antennae and down_ the middle, but 

 with the sides and lower part covered with shimmering _ pale yellow 

 tomentum • face rather produced on the lower third and bearing there the 

 long drooping face-beard, which is composed of nearly twenty yellow hairs 

 and usually some encircling shorter inconspicuous black ones ; jowls bare and 

 shining black • back of the head shining black and bearing long coarse black 

 pubescence which develops after ihe middle into strong bristles which are 

 conspicuous and of which many have the tips bent forward, but these bristles 

 die out on the upper part ; frons wider than the face and hardly widening 

 upwards, considerably sunk between the eyes, shining black and almost 



