liEIilS. 91 



Uancje. Europe, Orient, Australia, North and South America. 



Life-lnstory. The European B. cludijheata has been bred from 

 moss, but the metamorphoses of the genus are not well known. 

 The perfect insects prefer marshy situations, but are generally 

 distributed. Col. Yerbury records the males of some British 

 species as performing a rather wild aerial dance. 



The two Indian species of Beris are easily distinguished : — 



Legs mainly dark brown yenieulatu, Curt. 



Legs yellow ; femora and hind tibife with brown bands, aiimdipes, Brun. 



60, Beris geniculata, Curt. 



Beris geyiiculata, Curtis, Brit. VA\t. viii, p. 337 (1830). 



S $ . Hf(td : frons in S rather large, shining b]ack,'with a de- 

 pressed median channel on upper part ; face and low er part of head 

 shining blac]\ ; frons and face with rather dense blackish -brown 

 pubescence ; vertex wholly occupied by the considerably elevated 

 ocellar triangle, bearing blackish-brown hairs ; proboscis black, 

 labella orange, palpi black ; eyes contiguous for a considerable dis- 

 tance, with dense blackish-brown pubescence on front part, less 

 dense on rest of surface, facets of upper half much larger than 

 the others ; antennae black ; 3rd joint not quite twice as long as 

 the 1st and 2ud put together,* greyish on inner side about 

 the middle, tapering to tip after about 3i*d or 4th annulation, 

 extreme tip with two or three minute bristles. In 5 , frons nearly 

 one-third of head, shining black, as is the face, both with short 

 j)ale pubescence ; eyes with very short pubescence. Thorax and 

 scutellum metallic shining gi'een or blue-green, the former dis- 

 tinctly punctate except towards bind margin; scutellum impnnc- 

 tate ; both with rather dense blackish pubescence, wdiich is less 

 dense on scutellum ; the latter with eight shining green spines 

 (normally in European specimens only six). In the $ , pubescence 

 on dorsum of thorax pale and short, rather depressed. Abdomen 

 very dark brown, nearly black, with rather long pubescence 

 towards sides, which is brownish in S , pale yellowish and much 

 shorter in 5; venter shining brown ; genitalia rather small. Legs 

 very dark brown, tips of femora narrowly orange ; base of tibife 

 orange to about one-third on anterior legs and to a quarter on hind 

 pair ; anterior metatarsi pale, rest of tarsi black, hind metatarsi 

 pale, considerably and equally dilated throughout their length 

 except at base and tips, longer than four remaining joints 

 together, the latter black. Wings brown, costal cell a little paler ; 

 stigma large, dark brown, oval ; in $ wings clearer ; halteres 

 brownish orange. 

 Length, 4-5 mm. 



* A shght error as to the length of the 3rd autennal joint seems to have 

 crept into Verrall's usually scrupulously correct writings, as he contrHcliets 

 himself in the table of species and the description, The discrepancy may not 

 be important. 



