BASSUS. 279 



letely red-marked. Mouth, clypeus, facial orbits, and in J 

 epistoma, murks before the red tegulae, scutellum apically or 

 entirely, and bind tibial band, white. Lees totally red, with only 

 tbe hind tarsi, and remainder of their tibiae entirely, black. The 

 c? with scape beneath and anterior coxae entirely flavous ; areola 

 very small and irregular. Three first abdominal segments trans- 

 versely impressed and (in the typical form) apically red ; basal 

 segment subquadrate, rugosely punctate and impressed before tbe 

 centre, with discal carinse extending nearly to the anteapical 

 impression. 



Length 4-5| milliin. 



SIKKIM: Darjiling, 7000 ft., viii. 09 (C. Paiva Ind. Mus.) ; 

 BENGAL : Katihar, iii. 09 (C. Paiva) ; RAJPUTANA : Mt. Abu (Col. 

 Nurse). PALJEARCTIC REGION. 



Holmgren's variety nemoralis differs from tbe type-form only in 

 having the abdomen immaculate black ; it is much commoner in 

 Europe than that with the incisures red, and the Indian example 

 belongs to it. From all others of this genus, except B. multicolor, 

 the present species differs in its entirely pale, red or flavous, 

 anterior coxae and the bicoloured hind tibiae. 



This is an abundant species throughout the Palsearctic region 

 and is met with by sweeping, but more usually on the heads of 

 both Heracleum and Angelica, quite as often in their seeding as 

 in their flowering condition, showing that it is probably not the 

 blossoms which attract them. I have seen the female in England 

 examining the stem of Heracleum spJiondylium with her antennas ; 

 it walked over the flowers heedlessly, but was much interested in 

 the colony of Aphis hieracii, Kalt., which covered the plant, 

 doubtless being in search of the larvse of some Syrphm, from 

 which genus I am not aware that the present species has yet been 

 bred. The Indian specimens are sufficiently typical, though th 

 white tibial band is somewhat broader and the discal carin 

 of the basal segment less conspicuous than those of British 

 specimens. 



197. Bassus multicolor, Grav. 



Bassus multicolor, Gravenhorst, Ichn. Eur. iii, 1829, p. 352 ($ ) ; 



Vollenhoven, Pinac. pi. i, fig. 4 ( c? ) ; Holmgren, Sv. Ak. Handl. 



1855, p. 855 ; Morley, Trans. Ent. Soc.Lond. 1905, p. 425 ( J $ ). 

 Bassus deletus, Thomson, Opusc. Ent. xiv, 1890, p. 1471 (J $). 



A punctulate and not very shining species, with the hind tibiae 

 obsoletely red at their apices. Head with the mouth, disc or 

 (in c? ) whole of clypeus, internal orbits or (in c? ) whole face, 

 flavous ; frons smooth or sulcate. Antennce black, filiform and 

 shorter than the body, with the flagellum ferruginous beneath ; 

 scape of c? flavous below. Thorax black, stout and gibbous, 

 with a mark before and a short line beneath the radices flavous ; 

 pleurae strongly nitidulons and obsoletely punctulate ; metathorax 

 rugulose, with the areae obsolete and areola very small. Scutellum 



