EKISXALIS. 163 



auterior halt' of 2ii(l segment. Venler shining black, with whitish 

 pubescence ; hind margins of segments whitish. Legs : coxse and 

 femora shining black, with a little yellowish pubescence, tips of 

 latter orange-brown ; tibiie with basal half yellowish, remainder 

 blackish-brown, all with pale yellow pubescence ; tarsi blackish- 

 brown, at least on upper side, middle pair (and sometimes fore 

 pair also) with first tAvo tarsal joints brownish-orange. Whuis 

 clear; stigma narrowly brownisli-yellow ; subcostal cell very pale 

 brownisli-yellow ; halteres yellowish ; squanue and fringe whitish. 



Length, about 'J mm. 



Described from a short series in the Indian Museum from 

 Karachi (CammiiK/). Lucknow, 4. A'i. 1908, on melon ; 21. i. 1898; 

 Baroda, l.iv. 1909; Allahabad, 11. xii. 1905 (Ilowlett); Delhi, 

 iii. 1913 (Ifowlett); Bombay, 21. iii. 1905; 2. iii. 1905, on sea- 

 weed; Balnch'xstnn (Cleghorn). The ty\)e oi E. ridens, a 5 from 

 Albania, is obviously conspecific with E. taphicus. Fnvthev speci- 

 mens in the British Museum are from China and Corea, and (as 

 i-idens) from South France, Monaco, Cyprus and India. L'giye 2 » 

 from Egypt, in Frankfurt Museum. 



Though regarded by many authors as a variety of (mens, Scop., 

 E. tapJiicns appears to be a valid species. The thorax is always 

 obviously stri|:)ed, though often less distinctly in the o , whereas 

 oiHCus has nominally a wholly neneous thorax, althougli in occasional 

 individuals on close examination traces can be seen of a disposition 

 to divide into four broad practically contiguous stripes. Other 

 characters are a " reddish " spot on the anterior corners of the 

 venter, but this varies from nearly white, through yellowish to 

 reddish-brown or orange. There is also a whitish dust spot or a 

 whitish reflection on the mesopleura, and a round, sometimes very 

 conspicuous, similar spot on the sternopleura. The pale spots on 

 the venter are present in apneas tiiough only whitish or yellowish, 

 but the spots on the thorax are always absent in that species. 

 The black stripes on a grey or whitish ground in Uiphicns ;ire as 

 distinct in normal specimens as in any species of the groups with the 

 tliorax striped, especially in the female; the}' are closer together 

 in the male and might easily be confluent in individuals, but in 

 such cases the greyish spots on the pleiu'ie should determine the 

 species. One cf » however, in the British Museum from Albania 

 is intermediate, as the grey spot is present on the sternopleuni but 

 not on the mesopleura, and tiie dorsum of the thorax is just per- 

 ceptibly though very narrowly divisible into four almost contiguous 

 black stripes. 



130. Eristalis niger, Wicil. i.| 



En'.sfii/in ini/cr, Wiedemann, Anal. I'Jit. p. .j8 ("182/5) : id., Auss, 

 ZweiH. ii,'p. 18.'] (1830); de Meijere, Tijd. v. V.ni. W, ].. I'GO, cT 

 dcscr. (190S). 



Eriiitalls bomhuitles, Walker. I'ric. Linu. Soc. Lonl. iv, p. ill* 

 (IBGO). 



Eris/ti/is i)h.<riiififft, "Walker, op. cit. v, p. 2.39 (18GI). 



Erisfalis tortnusa, Walker, op. cit. v, p. 2G(! (18G1 ). 



m2 



