106 H- ^- EFFLATOUN. 



a single row of short black spines ; usually îTie distai halves of 

 the hind tibise are also rather swollen and curved ; generally tlie 

 pubesoenoe on the legs is rather dense and long. 



Wings as a rule, rather greyish, with the radio-niedian cross- 

 vein never straight or vertical, and plaoed at or beyond the mid- 

 dle of cell M2; Hadius 4 + 5 with a loop, which, in the Egyptian 

 species, is rarely almost as deep in the Eristalinœ; the turned up 

 part of Ml+2 is remarkably undulated and at its upper margin 

 rather reflexed; the médian eross-vein has its lower end much 

 nearer the wing-margin than 'its upper end. 



Although this genus is very distinct and sharply def ined it 

 shows affinities with several gênera. The incrassate hind femora, 

 elongatc vertex, and the enlargement of the faoets on the front 

 part of the eyes, seem to show relationship to Syritta. It also re- 

 sembles Paragus in such characters as the turned up portion of 

 Ml +2, the form and clothing of the face, the thorax and scutellum, 

 and in the habits of the adults, which appear to mimic small 

 aculeate Hymenoptera. However, the habits of the larvœ bring it in 

 relationship with two other gênera which do not seem to be re- 

 presented in Egypt, Merodon and Xylota. 



This genus is not a very extensive one, there being about 80 

 known species, of which about twenty occur in Africa and the 

 rest in Europe (about twenty species), South Asia, Macassar, Aus- 

 tralia and Tasmania. 



Bouché in 1847 was the lirst to breed a species from 

 bulbs of the common onion {Allium Cepa), which were destroyed 

 by the larvae ; thèse lived inside the bulbs and pupated 

 either in the bulbs or in the neighbouring earth. Our common 

 species hère, E. amoenus, has also been bred from Allium 

 Ce-pa by Mr. F. A. Willcocks of the Sultania Agricultural 

 Society, and in the Entomological Section, Ministry of Agricul- 

 ture; and E. vestitus from Potato tubers imported from Palestine, 

 Cyprus and Greece, as well as being bred from Battikh (water 

 melons), from Tul-Karam (Palestine), grapes f rom Mex (near Alex- 

 aiidria), ajid from the rott/en stems of paw-paw from Tcl-cl-Kebir. 

 I bave also bred E. amoenus from larva; found in the rhizomes of 

 the german Iris {Iris germanica) in my garden, where a large bor- 

 der was almost completely destroyed by it, as well as by the larvae 

 of Syrittta. However, I believe that the damage was starleB by tne 

 "bull") mite" (Rhyzoglyphus hyacinthi) and not by t_he larvae 

 themselvcs, thèse merely continuing the damage, after décomposi- 

 tion of the tissue had been caused by "the bulb mite." 



According to Bouché fhe larva is dirty greyish yellow, spinu- 

 lose, wrinkled, and flat below; the anterior spiracles are brown; at 



