736 ASILID^ 



stem of the cubital vein about as long as the fork ; third posterior cell more 

 widely open than the second or fourth, though the fourth is not appreciably- 

 narrowed • wing-membrane rumpled. Alar squamee pale brownish, with a 

 thick blackish brown margin on which is a very short pale fringe. Halteres 

 orange or brownish orange with the base of the stem blackish. 



$ . Very similar to the male. Face-beard composed of fewer hairs and without 

 any encircling short black hairs. 



Thorax with the grey stripes slightly more obvious. 



Abdomen usually more flattened and slightly widened after the third 

 segment but narrowed on the eighth segment and ovipositor, and the eighth 

 segment has rather long ciliation on its hindmargin and tawny pubescence 

 beneath ; occasionally moderately large but a inconspicuous lurid red spot 

 occurs on each side on the hinder half of the fourth segment. 



Wings more frequently with the reticulated appearance caused by the 

 cells having less darkened kernels, but with the foremarginal parts blackish. 



Length about 14 mm. 



This species is readily known by its comparatively large size, its long 

 violet-blackened wings, and its orange legs. The only closely allied 

 European species is the very rare D. Mcycri from Podolia (of which only 

 two females are known) but that has the middle of the abdomen bright 

 red, the hind legs mainly black, and the face-beard black. D. cdandica 

 varies only in the intensity of the coloring of the wings and in the 

 darkening of the tibioe, as stated in the description above, but this amount 

 of variation caused two specimens with very light colored wings to be 

 labelled J), umbellatarum in Bigot's collection. 



D. mlandica can hardly be considered a common insect, though it 

 occurs in numerous localities in the southern half of England. It is 

 certainly not at all uncommon in the New Forest, and I have records 

 from Devonshire, Hampshire, Kent, Herts, Suffolk, Hereford, Leicester, 

 Notts, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Merioneth, and Glamorgan, upon dates 

 ranging from May 23 to July 8. Some specimens taken by Colonel Yerbury 

 at Porthcawl had the wings very darkly colored. It is recorded from 

 all Europe except the South-west, and it is possible that it occurs in 

 Guadaloupe and Brazil {D. vicina Macq.). 



Synonymy. — Sylvicola higiihris of Moses Harris in his Expos. Brit. Ins., T. xlviii., 

 f. i. (1782) is almost certainly a synonym. 



3. D. Reinhardi Meigen. Mesopleurse without an anterior shimmering 

 pale stripe. Legs of the female yellow, but those of the male with the 

 femora black except at the base. 



A rather fine species, remarkable for the very different 

 coloring of the femora in the sexes. 



$ . Shining black. Face shining black on nearly the upper half, but with the 

 lower part (in good specimens) covered with greyish or yellowish white 

 tomentum, slightly produced near the top of the mouth and bearing there the 

 dense yellow or whitish yellow face-beard which is composed of abundant 

 (50-60) coarse hairs but which nevertheless does not extend to the sides ; 

 mouth-margin laterally and the small jowls shining black ; the small chin-tuft 

 varying from all black to mixed black and yellow hairs ; back of the head 

 almost flat or even slightly excavated, shining black but with a bare greyish 

 eyemargin on the lower part, and bearing numerous moderately long black 

 bristly hairs on the lower part and a few stout black bristles just before the 



