BY ARTHUR WHITE. 231 



fork very small ; all veins dark brown, and strongly mark- 

 ed ; halteres black. 



This is the largest and finest known species of the Tas- 

 manian Empidce. It bears some resemblance to H. yere- 

 (jrinus, but may be easily distinguished by its black and 

 more bristly abdomen, its less dilated front tarsi, and 

 black halteres. 



H. ediinatus s&ems to be a scarce species; the only 

 specimens that I have met with were skimming over the 

 surface of a rock-pool in the bush, on November 29, 1914. 



55. E M p I s, L. (Fig. 44.) 



Proboscis long; mediastinal vein incomplete, and not 

 reaching the costa ; metapleura with bristles ; anterior 

 tarsi in male not dilated. 



Head small, globular, narrower than the thorax. Pro- 

 boscis always elongated. Eyes either touching or sep- 

 arated in the male, always separated in the female. An- 

 tennae with the first two joints short-, the third elongated 

 and somewhat conical, with a short teraiinal style. Thorax 

 i-ather arched, with, usually, dorsocentral, acrostichal, 

 humeral, posthumeral, notopleural, supraalar, and posta- 

 lar bristles, but some of these may be wanting; meta- 

 pleura with bristles. Abdomen long and slender, trun- 

 cate in the male, pointed in the female. Legs slender, the 

 posterior pair sometimes elongated ; posterior tarsi in the 

 male sometimes slightly inflated, tibiae and tarsi in the 

 female sometimes feathered with scaly hairs. Wings occa- 

 sionally broader in the female than in the male; media- 

 stinal vein incomplete, and not reaching the costa; cubital 

 vein forked, the ujoper branch usually short and nearly 

 upright, seldom so- sloping as in Hilara ; the discal cell 

 with three issuing veinlets, of which the upper one is 

 occasionally abbreviated ; anal vein either complete or 

 shortened ; anal cell much shorter than the second basal 

 cell. 



The species of Einpis may be met with frecjuenting* 

 flowers, or settled on vegetation, whilst a few are found 

 hovering in the air. None of the species skim over the 

 surface of water, like those of Hilara and Hilaropu^. 



The genus Empi^ contains a large number of species 

 from all parts of the world. It has been divided into a 

 number of subgenera by Bezzi, but with our present small 

 knowledge of the Australian species, it is impossible to 

 say how far these apply to the Australian region. Up 

 to the present time, six species have been described from 

 Australia, but, according to Bezzi, it is doubtful whether 

 some of these may not belong to Hilara. From Tasmania 



