36 sYEPniD^. 



indistinct sloping palebaiid.s or stripes, but in the P. tesfaceiis form 

 the pubescence is all pale, as are nearly all the anterior femora. 

 In the Qnetta specimens the abdomen is reddish, with rather less 

 than apical half black. Legs orange, basal half of anterior, basal 

 two-thirds of hind, femora black (in the Quetta d $ basal third 

 and half respectively). Hind tibiae (normally) more or less dark 

 about the middle. Hind femora slightly thickened about middle, 

 and hind metatarsi rather swollen. Pubescence pale, mainly 

 inconspicuous. Wings clear, stigma brownish ; halteres yellow. 



2 . Face yellow, usually only middle fourth black, but in dark 

 forms as much as middle half blackish-red ; usually produced only 

 about a quarter the width of the eye. Erons all shining blue- 

 black except on two elongated side patches of grey dust. 

 Pubescence on disc of thorax very short, but longer and silvery on 

 pleurae, on abdomen exceedingly short, with a tendency to form 

 pale fascife, especially near base of 3rd and 4th segments. The 

 Quetta $ has rather more than the apical half of the abdomen 

 black. 



Length, about 6 mm. 



Quetta, V. and vii. 1902 (Nurse). One d , one $ , tlie only two 

 examples which I know from British India, though the species 

 occurs all over Europe and in North America. 



The above description is an adaptation from Verrall. 



Genus PIPIZELLA, Bond. 



Pipizella, Hondaui, Dipt. Ital. Prod, i, p. 54 (1856). 



Heringia, id., op. cit. i, p. 53 (1856), and ii, p. 184 (Heryiigia) (1857). 



Phalauf/us, Megeile, in Meigen, Syst. Beschr. iii, p. 253 (1822). 



Genotipe, Mulio virens, Fabr. ; by original designation. 



Head about as wide as thorax ; eyes densely pubescent, con- 

 tiguous in c? , wide apart in $ ; face also densely pubescent, not cut 

 away below antennae ; no central knob, and upper mouth-border 

 not produced. Antennae moderately long, 3rd joint elongate; 

 arista dorsal, bare. Thorax normal in size and shape, always 

 distinctly though not conspicuously pubescent, without bristly 

 hairs ; scutelhim normal, pubescent. Abdomen rather elongate, a 

 little longer and broader than thorax, with 4 or 5 segments, which 

 are subequal. Legs simple, hind femora varying in thickness. 

 Wings with normal Syrphine type of venation ; anterior cross- 

 vein some distance before middle of discal cell. Sometimes a very 

 short appendix at point of flexure in 4th and 5th veins. 



liange. Confined to Europe, with one Persian species and two 

 Indian. 



This genus rests on a rather slender basis, that of the elongate 

 nature of the 3rd antennal joint, as against an ovate or irregularly 

 shaped joint, hardly longer than high, in Pipiza. Two other 

 characters have been alleged, neither of which appeal to me, the 

 supposed rectangular upper angle of the 1st posterior cell (which 



