410 APPENDIX. 



bare, brown, about as long as 3rd joint. Thorax seneous-black, 

 sliining, bat sliglitlj obscured by the coarse punctuation, and 

 clothed with fairly abundant, tolerably long and erect, pale yellow 

 pubescence, which is whiter and longer on the pleurte. Sciitellum 

 with no trace of paleness at the tip. Abdomen shining blackish, 

 ratber coarsely punctate until after the middle ; extreme bind 

 margins of segments impunctate and brilliant; basal segment 

 ratber long, 2nd longer, 3rd and 4th still slightly longer, otb much 

 shorter but very obvious. Legs bright orange ; basal half of 

 anterior, and basal two-thirds of hind femora, black; hind tibiae 

 usually with a dark ring or blotch just after their middle; hind 

 femora slightly thickened about the middle ; liasal joint of hind 

 tarsi rather swollen. Pubescence pale and inconspicuous, but 

 a fair ciliation on the posterior tibife. Wings pellucid ; stigma 

 brown or brownish ; squamte and halteres yellow. 



2 similar to c? , but rather more shining because the pubescence 

 is a little shorter, face yellow at sides or more frequently only 

 at the extreme sides, and occasionally nearly all obscure or black. 

 Trons bluish-black, rather broad above but gradually narrowing 

 to the face. Scutelluin not in the least degree pale at tip. 



Length, about 5 mm. 



The above description is slightly abridged from that of Vei'rall, 

 which was drawn up from European, probably mainly British, 

 specimens of both sexes. Col. Yerburv has taken the species at 

 Peradeniya, Ceylon, l.v. & 29. v. 1892, both 5 $. A very 

 common, very variable and widely distributed Palsearctic species. 

 Wieden)ann's 2^olitus was described from China. My indicus is 

 probabl}^ synonymous with tibialis. 



Genus MELANOSTOMA, Sch. {ante, p. 46). 



I have now had an opportunity to see the type of M. pedium 

 and that of M. cothonea, which is a synonym of jjedi^im, and can 

 add the following notes. 



Melanostoma pedium, Wall-, (ante, p. 52). 



Melanostoma ovientale, var., Brunetti, Rec. Ind. Mii^i. xi, p. 208, pi. xiii, 

 fig. 3 (1915). 



The type of pedium, Walk, (a d ), is now quite valueless for 

 purposes of comparison ; but that of cothonea, AValk. (a 5 ), is 

 in good condition, and Major Austen, in revising the British 

 Museum collection of Syrphidpe many years ago, noted that 

 cothonea is the $ of j^^dium. The form recorded by me from 

 various parts of India as closely allied to, but almost certainly 

 distinct from, orientale, Wied., is undoubtedly identical with 

 pedium, though only female specimens \\ere obtained. 3L j^ediitm, 

 then, varies from normal orientale structurally in the shape of the 

 face, in Avhich it is intermediate, so far as the prominence of the 



