756 REPUTED BRITISH SPECIES 



REPUTED BRITISH SPECIES. 



STRATIOIVEYID^. 



1 Nemotehis hrevirostris Meig. All British writers since the days of Stephens have 



included this species as British, but without any attemjjt to test its identi- 

 fication. All the specimens I have seen so named belong to N. notatus Zett., 

 wMch is a fairly common British species. 



2 Oxycera leonina Panz. Curtis in 1833 (Brit. Ent., 441) gave the following record : 



"A female taken at Pinny by Mr Morris," and J. C. Dale in 1842 (Ann. Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., viii., 432) wrote "I have a pair, both from Charmouth ; the S I 

 " took." There is however no specimen in the collection bequeathed to the 

 Oxford Museum by C W, Dale, and it is impossible to know now what 

 species Curtis and Dale had before them. 0. leonina may well occur in 

 England as it is not uncommon in the Netherlands ; it is rather near 0. 

 terminata but has some yellow markings about the sides of the thorax and at 

 the base of the abdomen, and has the femora mainly black. 



3 0. Tnuscaria Fabr. Meigen unfortunately stated that his 0. pygmcea was a 



synonym of 0. imiscaria, and consequently our British authors like many 

 others recorded 0. mnscaria when they meant to record 0. pyr/mcea. The 

 true 0. mvscaria Fabr. was described from Italy and is probably the same as 

 0. flavipes Loew, which is known from Dalmatia and Italy. Duncan's 0. 

 muscaria must have been 0. formosa, as was also probably Walker's in his 

 List Dipt. Brit. Mus., i., 527 (but not in his Ins. Brit. Dipt., i., 22), and these 

 errors were also caused by Meigen 's incorrect synonymy. The true 0. miiscaria 

 Fabr. is unlikely to occur in Britain. 



4 0. Fallenii Staeg. Recorded by Walker in 1851 (Ins. Brit. Dipt., i., 21) as "Rare. 



" In Mr Haliday's collection. (I.)." Through the kindness of Mr G. H. 

 Carpenter I have seen this specimen, and it is a true 0. Fallenii, but from 

 its general appearance and its pin I am strongly of opinion that it was a 

 continental specimen sent to Haliday by Loew, especially as the latter was 

 at that time writing about this and the allied species. It is also improbable 

 that Haliday would have left such a specimen without any record of locality 

 and date. 0. Fallenii is a possible British species, but is more likely to 

 occur in the Scotch Highlands than in Ireland. 



'^a'- 



5 Odontomyia microleonh. Walker in 1851 (Ins. Brit. Dipt., i., 17) said "Rare. 



" In Mr E. Brown's collection. (E.)." The collection of Edwin Brown (whom I 

 remember meeting at an Entomological Club meeting in London) was 

 acquired by Dr P. B. Mason, and consequently the specimen mentioned 

 by Brunetti was undoubtedly the same. 0. microleon probably occurs in 

 Britain, but I do not consider its claims strong enough to include it at present. 



6 0. hydrodromia Meig. Walker in 1851 (Ins. Brit. Dipt., i., 18) said "Rare. In 



" Mr Stephens' collection. (E.)." I have seen the (probably) original specimen 

 referred to by Walker, and consider it to be only 0. mridida, var. subvittata. 

 The true 0. hydrodromia of Meigen has never been recorded since its 

 description, and its habitat is unknown, but it is a perfectly distinct species 

 which may not even be European. 



