ZOOLOGY 465 



DIPTERA. 



By Ernest E. Austen 

 (Zoological Department, British Museum). 



So far as can be ascertained, no diptera whatever have as yet Ijeen descril^ed from 

 Uganda, and the present brief list is based almost entirely upon a small series of 

 specimens presented to the British Museum by Mr. G. F. Scott-Elliot, and collected 

 by him in Ruwenzori and the neighbouring region of the Western Province. Un- 

 fortunately the majority of these are in very poor condition, while some are altogether 

 undeterminable. The diptera of Africa generally have as yet l>een little collected and 

 studied, but sufKcient is known to indicate an extraordinarily wide distribution in the 

 case of many species, some of which range from Seiiegambia to Delagoa Bay, and from 

 Algeria to Cai^e Colony. It it practically certain, therefore, that many species described 

 from other parts of the African continent will be found to occur within the confines of 

 the Uganda Protectorate, and it is to be hoped that the in.sects belonging to this 

 interesting order will soon receive their fair share of attention in the territories which 

 form the subject of the present work. 



BiBIONIDiE. 



Flecia dorsalis, Macq. Ruwenzori, .5,300 feet (G. F. Scott-Elliot). This species was 

 described from the Cape : the Museum collection contains a specimen from Pretoria 

 (W. L. Distant). 



TiPULID.E. 



Tipida sp. (probably new). Between Katwe and Buamba (G. F. Scott-Elliot). 

 Tiinda sp. (probably new). Ruwenzori, 6,000 to 8,000 feet (G. F. Scott-Elliot). 

 Pachi/rhina sp. (probably new). Ruwenzori, 6,000 to 8,000 feet (G. F. Scott-Elliot). 



Tabanidj^. 



lahanus sp. Laikii)ia (W. J. Gregory). Very close to T. dorsivltfd, Walk., but the 

 median stripe on the abdomen is narrower, while the fringe on the outside of the 

 hind tibite consists of black pile, or of black mixed with i)ale i)ile, instead of jiale pile 

 alone. The palpi are clothed on a portion of their outer face with thickly set minute 

 black hairs, which are absent or less numerous in the case of T. dorsivitta. It is, 

 of course, quite possible that further researches may prove the supposed species to be 

 nothing more than a local race of the latter. Although Laikipia is beyond the borders 

 of the Uganda Protectorate, there can be no doubt, in view of the wide distribution of 

 other African species of Tdbniius, that the range of the present one extends into the 

 Eastern Province at any rate. The true Tnhanm dorsivitta was originally described 

 from the Gambia, Init the British Museum collection also includes specimens from Voi 

 and Samburn, near ]Mombasa, as well as from the Zaml)ezi. A si»ecimen of the species 

 from Laikipia, as distinguished above, was taken by Mr. L. L. Prichard on the Zambezi 

 on February 27th, 1901, with si)ecimens of T. dorsivitta ; and the Museum also possesses 

 examples from Mombasa (I). J. Wilson), and Kilimanjaro (F. J. Jackson). Specimens 

 of both species were labelled " Hippo flies " by Mr. Prichard. 



Tabamis latipes, Macq. Laikipia (W. J. Gregory) (syn. 7'. africamis. Gray ; 

 T.fenestratus, Walk.). Although there are no specimens in the Ihitish Museum from 

 VOL. I. 30 



