160 [J'^iy- 



carefully detached, laid down, and without disturbance covered by a 

 large e;lass-bottomed box, under which the insects remained paired for 

 just over six minutes. On May 29th, at 4.35 p.m., a pair was seen 

 going through exactly the same actions as those previously observed 

 during the latter half of the courtship. The insects paired in less than 

 two minutes, and it is evident that courtship was partly over when 

 observation began. Again, at 6 46 p.m., a third pair were seen going 

 through the latter phases of courtship, but in this case the male did 

 not succeed in pairing. On the same dates and place six females were 

 taken, each feeding on a small Dipteron. On May 22nd, at 2 15 p.m., 

 near Enslow, I boxed a male that was eating a small Dipteron. During 

 the earlier part of the day numbers were observed feeding on the 

 hawthorn blossom and flower-heads of UmhellifercE. 



E. punctata, Mg. — Durinj^ the present summer, at Lye Hill, I 

 Lave taken this species in copuJd without prey, and also an unpaired 

 female eating a small Dipteron. Tt is highly probable that the habits 

 of this species will be found to be similar to those of its close allv, E. 

 trigramma. 



E. scutellafa, Curt. — Five pairs of this species — in all cases with- 

 out prey— have been taken in copula at Lye Hill, on various dates 

 during May and .Tune. During copulation the female hangs (usually 

 from a grass-stem), and supports the male. Her wings are held hori- 

 zontally, and at right angles to the body, while the anterior legs of the 

 male are raised, after the manner of Anophples. 



Pachymeria femorata, F. — This species was first noticed on 

 May 30th last year, in a disused quarry close to Hletchington Station. 

 I then observed a number of Diptera flying together in the sun under 

 the boughs of a small larch. As they seemed strange in appearance, 

 I made a sweep with the net and captured a number, and, to my sur- 

 prise, found that they were all males of P. femorata, and that each had 

 been carrying a fly. The latter were lying in the bottom of the net. 

 By repeated strokes some 50 males were captured (a few having 

 escaped from the net). The prey consisted of 50 Bibios and 10 

 examples of other Diptera. No further observations were made at the 

 time, as I had then no thought of studying the manner of pairing, and 

 only took the specimens in order to aid Prof. Poulton i!i his researches 

 on " Predaceous Insects and their Prey." In the meantime the obser- 

 vations on other Empids induced me to pay special attention to their 

 habits of pairing. 



On May 20th last I again saw Pachymeria in the University Parks, 

 close to and eastward of the Museum, behaving exactly as I had seen 



