754 



ASILID^ 



Legs with an obscure dark band before the tip of the hind femora (in 

 contrast with the darkened streak of L. cyliiulrica) _; anterior tibias hardly- 

 darkened at the tip {vide var. of female), and hind tibiae with a broad vague 

 dark ring (especially on the underside) after the middle which leaves the tip 

 not much darkened ; tarsi more distinctly pale on the base of the second, 

 third, and fourth joints. 



Wings (fig. 406) with the small cross-vein present in all the British 



Fio. 406.~Leptogaster gvttiventris S- x 10. 



specimens T have seen, though it is sometimes absent in continental specimens ; 

 cubital fork usually rather longer than in L. cylindrica. 



$ . Abdomen with the pale bands less obvious than in the male and not at aU 

 ferruginous, so that there appears to be simply a rather dark band across 

 each segment just after its middle ; abdomen not at all compressed about the 

 tip and the last segment not truncate. 



Legs with the tarsi having little more than the tips of the four basal joints 

 and the whole of the last joint dark. A female taken at Nethy Bridge on 

 June 24, 1905, has the anterior femora rather darkened anteriorly and about 

 the tip, the hind femora almost blackish anteriorly and with an unusually 

 deep black ring a little before the tip and with the extreme tip black, the 

 anterior tibiae with a dark stripe anteriorly down the whole length, the hind 

 tibiae black with the base yellowish white and the tip brownish yellow, the 

 tarsi with only the basal joint except its tip whitish yellow and just the base 

 of the second joint orange. 



Length 9 mm. to 13 mm. 



This species has been contrasted with its close ally, L. cylindrica, but 

 there are other allied species in South and Central Europe. A female taken 

 at Orford on July 10, 1908, has two supra-alar bristles on one side of the 

 thorax placed so close together that they are obviously abnormal. 



L. guttiventris has been overlooked as a British species, because of its 

 great similarity to Z. cylindrica, but may be not uncommon. I caught a 

 female at St Mary Cray in Kent as long ago as June 19, 1869, and have 

 since met with it at Barton Mills and near Orford in Suffolk, while Colonel 

 Yerbury has taken it in the New Forest (Ringwood, Brockenhurst, and 

 Lyndhurst) and in Scotland at Golspie and Nethy Bridge; Mr C. J. 

 Wainwright has taken it at Selsley in Gloucestershire, and Dr J. H. Wood 

 at The Dowards in Herefordshire, but in all these cases it was not dis- 

 tinguished from Z. cylindrica at the time of capture. My records extend 

 from June 6 to August 14 or even a little later. It is recorded from 

 North and Central Europe. 



