PREFACE. 



OWING to the war, the difficulties of communication, and the 

 loss of ships coining from the East, there has been an 

 unusual delay in the issue of the present volume, and it has 

 unfortunately been found impossible to incorporate in it 

 certain corrections which the author wished to make. 

 Further, owing to the difficulties under which publishers and 

 printers now labour, it was felt by the Editor necessary to 

 publish Avithout further delay. 



Another difficulty which has arisen in the preparation of 

 the volume is due to the fact that the MS. ran to a far larger 

 volume than the Indian Government contemplates, and it 

 was therefore reluctantly decided to publish the following 

 families : Stratiomyidse, Leptidjr, Nemestrinidfe, Cyrtidee, 

 Bombyliidce, Therevida?, Scenopinidse, Mydaidse, Empidoe, 

 Lonchopteridac, and Platype/idse ; leaving the remainder, 

 i. ., the families Pipunculida?, Syrphidse, Conopidse, and 

 Oestridse for a second volume. This proceeding is, I gather, 

 against the wishes of the author, but no other solution of 

 the difficulty appeared possible. 



A.E. SHIPLEY. 

 1st May, 1920. 



