1915. ] E. BRUNETTI: Notes on Oriental Syrphidae. 209 
legs are wholly yellow except for an indistinct median dark band 
on the tibiae, and this is often absent. 
As regards plantfactes, Macq. I think it may also be regarded 
as the 2 of univittatum. The sole disagreement in Macquart’s 
description is the colour of the thorax and frons, which he says is 
greenish black. Although in the nine 9? 9 that I refer to 
univittatum the thorax and frons are aeneous black as it normally 
is in the @, some ” @ in the collection exhibit a distinctly 
greenish tinge. One of the 2 examples (from Bangalore) agrees 
exactly with Macquart’s plate, and his remark that the pale 
colour at the base of the abdomen extends to the side borders 
agrees with the nine specimens referred to. The legs in these 
specimens agree with those of my male wnivittatum. 
Meijere records three planifacies from Singapore, Sumatra 
and Queensland respectively, but no o. 
The @ univittatum specimens in the Indian Museum come from 
Darjiling, Katmandu, Dibrugarh, the Assam-Bhutan Frontier, 
Mergui, Travancore, Bangalore and Coromandel; whilst theg ? 9 
hail from Bhim Tal, the Assam-Bhutan Frontier, Sadiya, Travan- 
core, Bangalore, Coromandel and Sarawak, the localities of both 
sexes thus supporting the view that they are the same species. 
Its range of distribution is evidently very wide. 
Melanostoma cingulatum, Big. 
This can hardly be a Melanostoma, the yellow scutellum and 
side stripes to the thorax throwing it out of this genus altogether. 
Bigot says it resembles Syrphus consequens, Walk., which latter has 
been reterred to Asarcina, a totally different group of species. 
Bigot, in fact, did not understand the genus Melanostoma and 
introduced, with a query quite anumber of species. In the Indian 
Museum are two specimens marked ‘‘ Melanostoma, hemtptera, 
Big.’’ in that author’s handwriting which are merely the common 
Syrphus (Asarcina) aegrotus F. 
Platychirus manicatus, Mg. var. himalayensis, mihi, nov. var. 
Three ¢ ofrom Garhwal differ from the European manicatus 
sufficiently to rank them as at least a very distinct variety, if not 
a distinct species. The dilatation of the first two joints of the 
front tarsi is more conspicuous, and more produced forwards on 
the inner side of the Ist joint. The hind metatarsus is distinctly 
less thickened in the middle though obviously broader through- 
out than the femur or the remaining tarsal joints. 
The present form is 11°5 millimetres long, as against g to at 
most 10 millimetres in manicatus, and the abdominal yellow 
spots are smaller, more quadrate and of uniform size, the first 
pair being as large and as square as the others. 
The close similarity in all other characters causes me to 
refrain from considering this form distinct, at least until further 
specimens are available. 
