IQII.] G. RiCARDO : Revision of the species of Tahd.nns. 135 



the yellowish ground colour not alwa^'s being very apparent. 

 Antennae and legs j^ellovvish. Length 11 — 14 mm. 



Tabanus agricola, 9 , Wied. 



Auss. Zweifl. Ins., i, p. 556 (1828); Schiner, Reise Novara 

 Dipt., p. 82 (1868). 



Ashy grey : sides and segmentations of abdomen, antennae 

 and legs luteous. Length 6 lines, 9 .. From Red Sea. 



It is somewhat similar to Tabanus rusticus, Fabr. Antennae 

 yellow (the last joint wanting). Palpi very pale yellow. Beard 

 3'ellowish white. Face and forehead mouldy gre^^ Thorax 

 appears as if covered with ashy grey tomentum because it has 

 whitish pubescence on the black-grey ground colour. Abdomen 

 clay-3'eilow on the sides, and more narrowh' so on the hind borders 

 of the segments, so that not much remains of the black-grey 

 ground colour on each segment. Under side almost yellow. 

 Dorsum and under side with white pubescence. Wings colourless 

 with yellow veins. Legs clay-yellow; the anterior tibiae at the 

 base inside, all tarsi, but the posterior tarsi only at the apex, 

 brownish black. (Riippel in the Frankfort Museum.) Wied., Auss. 

 Zweifl. Ins., i, p. 556. 



Wiedeniann's description fits a male and two females from 

 Hongkong so well that I am induced to refer them to this species, 

 and add the following particulars to complete the description : — 

 The antennae are pale red-3^ellow, the first and second joint short, 

 not produced above and with few hairs, the third somewhat deeper 

 in colour, slighth- incised above, so that the angle projects but 

 little. The femora have tolerabl}" thick but extremel}' short 

 whitish pubescence ; the fore tibiae brownish black at the apex 

 (Wiedemann says, no doubt by mistake, brownish black at the 

 base, which is contrary' to the usual colouring of species of 

 Tabanus). Wings quite clear, the first posterior cell wide open, an 

 appendix present. Eyes of male ver}^ large and convex ; they 

 join completely on the forehead. Everything else as described by 

 Wiedemann ; the correctness of the identification is chiefly corro- 

 borated by the allusion to the similarity of the species with 

 Tabanus rusticus, Fabr. (vSchiner, Reise Novara Dipt., p. 82). 



From the comparison with Tabajiits rusticus, L., nee I'abr. 

 (Atylotus), it is to be presumed this species has two small calli on 

 forehead. Tabanus rusticus has not yet been recorded from Asia. 

 It seems probable that the specimens Schiner identified from 

 Hongkong as Tabanus agricola, Wied., belonged to Tabanus ditac- 

 )iiaius, INIacq. 



Group l\\ 



A small group of species, at once distinguished by the absence 

 of callosities on the forehead, which is broad, from four to five times 



