A FEW RKMARKS UPON CERTAIN DIPTEROUS INSECTS. 177 



liost of the " Five Miles from Anywhere," who has for many 

 years been used to the eccentricities of entomoloi^ists, and who 

 can tell them where to work for niiiny species. Wliichever way is 

 chosen, it is well to write first to see if a bed can be obtained, for 

 the visitor must not expect to find a " grand liotel " with an 

 unlimited number of apartments near Wicken Fen. 

 Royal AciiiariuMi, Wi'stininstor, July, iHSO. 



A FKW REMARKS UPON CERTAIN DIPTERO^US INSECTS. 

 By R. H. Mkade. 



Having spent a fcAV days towards the latter end of last June 

 in Buckinghamshire and the neighbouring parts of Oxfordshire, 

 I am induced to make a few remarks upon some interesting 

 Dipterous which I noticed in those localities. This order is so 

 extensive that I shall confine my observations almost exclusively 

 to the members of one family, the AntJiomyiiche, which are very 

 interesting, though they have received but little attention. 



The first species to which I shall allude is Ophyra anthrax, 

 Mgn. On a hawthorn hedge by the side of the road, on the out- 

 skirts of the town of Buckingham, I found this little blue-black 

 fly in immense numbers. Some years ago I noticed it before in 

 the same place, but I have never seen it in any other locality, 

 though I have looked for it in various parts of England. Nearly 

 opposite to the hedge in question, on the other side of the road, 

 there is a bone-mill, in which bones are ground up for manure; 

 and I noticed that a very strong putrescent odour emanated from 

 it. This smell evidently attracted the flies, for they were most 

 numerous on that end of the hedge which was nearest to the mill. 

 This peculiar species seemed to have almost exclusive possession 

 of the locality, for, with the exception of a very few individuals 

 belonging to the larger species of the same genus [Ophyra 

 leiicostoma, Fall.), I noticed no other flies among them. On 

 referring to the accounts given of this species by systematic 

 authors I found, in Schiner's ' Fauna Austriaca ' (Diptera), the 

 remark that it is of local occurrence, and that he once found it in 

 countless numbers ("in wahrer Unzahl") near a dead horse. 

 What is the source of attraction ? Do the larvae feed upon 



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