13. DIOCTRIA 741 



Pulvilli orange ; claws orange at the base but gradually becoming black 

 towards tJie tip. 



Wings with a slight brownish grey tinge, but more brownish yellow about 

 the base and forcmargin ; third posterior cell wider open than the second or 

 fourth, and the fourth usually rather narrowed. Squamce (alar) dirty yellow 

 with a thick yellow margin, but with the pale yellow marginal fringe very 

 thin on the alar end. Halteres clear yellow to brownish orange. 



Very much like the male. Face a little broader. 



Thorax more shining, because the short pale yellow pubescence is still 

 shorter and therefore conceals the ground colour less, but tlie grey stripes are 

 narrower and more sharply defined and consequently the oblique divergence 

 of their anterior part (when seen from in front) is more marked ; humeri and 

 postalar calli rather brownish. 



Abdomen after the third segment a little wider, and the pale incisures a 

 little more pronounced, while inconspicuous lurid reddish markings may occur 

 about the sides of the second, third, and fourth segments. 



Legs with very few long thin hairs about the base of the femora. 



Length about 11-5 mm. 



-■o^ 



This species varies but little, except that the anterior legs may be 

 sometimes darker reddish than usual and then blackish reflections or 

 even stripes may occur on the femora. The prominence upon which the 

 antennae are placed is larger and more pubescent than in any species known 

 to me, while the orange anterior and black hind legs distinguish it very 

 easily from all other British species. I think it should not be confounded 

 with any European species except D. litnrata Loew and D. mcridionalis 

 Bezzi (of which the latter is possibly only a southern race of D. rufipes), 

 but both of these have the anterior femora with some blackish markings. 



D. rufipcs is the commonest British species in the genus and I have 

 records from Devonshire to Inverness. It has occurred occasionally in my 

 garden here and also in the garden at Denmark Hill, London, when I lived 

 there. My dates range from May 16 to July 21. It is recorded from 

 nearly all Europe. 



Synonym]/. — Sylvicola cm'sor of Moses Harris in his Expos. Brit. Ins., T. xlviii., 

 f. 2 (1782) is almost certainly a synonym of B. rufpes. DeGeer's name dates from 

 1782 (or possibly 1776), but there was an Asilus riifpes of Fabricius described in 1775 

 from America which is now known as Prmnachus riifpes ; I leave both names 

 because there can be no possible confusion between the European Dioctria rujipes 

 DeG. and the North American Promachus I'ujipes Fabr. 



5. D. Baiimhaueri Meigen. Thorax with indistinctly shining lines. 

 Anterior femora black on the upper side, and hind legs mainly black. 



A small dark legged species. 



^ . Black, moderately shining. Face covered with greyish Avhite or pale golden 

 or even pale orange dust which leaves only a small middle space beneath 

 the antennaj shining black ; the face is only very slightly produced at just 

 the upper mouth-edge, where a single row of about ten long whitish bristly 

 hairs curving downwards forms the face-beard, but this face-beard does 

 not nearly extend outwards to the eyes; sides of the mouth shining black ; 

 chin-beard whitish, rather long, and extending on to the shimmering 

 whitish lower part of the back of the head, but soon after the middle of the 

 back of the head this shimmering part dies out and the pubescence grows 

 sparser, \\hile about eight stronger bi'ownish yellow hairs (hardly curved 

 forwards at their tips) form a postocular row, the absolute back of the head is 

 shining black and the whitish pubescence extends a little on the lower part, 



