194 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Dr. Ch. Lindeman, Professor at the Imperial Academy of 

 Agriculture, Moscow, Russia. He writes to me as follows : — 



" I received the letter you have been good enough to send 

 me, and I hasten to furnish you with an extract of my article on 

 the Lasioptera cerealis, which appeared in 1881, in the 'Bulletin 

 de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou . . .' The fly 

 is 2^ mm. in size. The body is black. The sides of the thorax, 

 the under side of the abdomen and of the head, as also of the 

 oviduct, are blood-red (after death and in the case of full-grown 

 examples black). Closely-set, silver-white scales show regular and 

 very characteristic spots and bands on various parts of the body, 

 especially on the following : — A large white spot on the scutel, 

 another on the sides of the thorax, above the fore coxse. Seven 

 small cross-bands on the abdomen, upon the hind margins of the 

 segments ; these transverse bands are smaller above than under- 

 neath, and in the middle they either diminish in size, or are 

 altogether interrupted. The trochanters, the knees, and the 

 under- tips of the tibise are also furnished with clear white 

 scales (beschuppt) . The poisers are white. The fore-border of 

 the wings, their tips, and the outer half of the hind margin, are 

 broadly bordered with black. At the base of the fore-margin a 

 white spot is found ; another white spot sits like a stigma on the 

 fore-border of the wing, in the middle thereof. The wings are 

 incumbent, iridescent, ciliated on the hind margin, and with 

 forked marginal veins. The antennee are short and thick, with 

 round hairy joints. Proboscis short, not prominent. Palpi 

 long, bent hookwise (liakenformig) behind. Metatarsus much 

 shorter than the following limb. The male is slightly dis- 

 tinguished from the female by the size of the spot and the black 

 border of the wing. 



" Professor Riley, at Washington, and Dr. J. Ritzema Bos, at 

 Wageningen, have likewise succeeded in raising the gnat from 

 larvEe with which I supplied them." 



Dr. Meade has also kindly supplemented Dr. Lindeman's 



diagnosis by a microscopic description of L. cerealis from living 



examples, and most heartily do I accept his welcome offer to give 



it, which will be fully appreciated by naturalists both at home 



and abroad. 



Peter Inciibald. 



Hornsea, Hull. 



