116 STRPHIIKE. 



narrower than the thorax in the middle ; hind femora greatly 

 thickened, but Hat, provided below near the end with a long and 

 sharp plate which bears on its margin 8-10 very strong spines ; 

 hind tibiae flattened, almost bare, shining. 



A male from Durban, 5. x. 1902 (F. Muir) ; a female from 

 Salisbury, Mashonaland ( G. A. K. Marshall} ; another male from 

 Chirinda Forest, S. Khodesia, x. 1905 (G. A. K. Marshall). The 

 type of the species was obtained in Belgian Congo. 



Ii2i>. Eumerus obliqims, Falricius (1S05). 



Easily recognisable owing to its short and broad body, to the hind 

 margin of the scutellum being clothed with grey hair and not 

 sharply produced, to the length of the hair on the eyes, the gmit 

 distinctness of the three pairs of abdominal lunuUe, and the strongly 

 incrassate and very hairy hind tibia-. 



Distributed throughout the Ethiopian Region. A male and 

 three females from Obuasi, Ashanti, West Africa, 24. vi. 1907, 

 "caught on flowers' 1 (Dr. W. M. Graham) ; a female from Ayeze, 

 S. Nigeria, 9. iv. 1911 (Dr. A. Connal) ; a female from Kembi, 

 Uganda, iv. 1904 (Capt. E. D. W. Greta) ; a female from British 

 East Africa (C. S. Betton), and another from British Central 

 Africa (Dr. J. E. /S'. Old) ; a male from Durban, Natal, 24. x. 1902 

 (F. Mi u'r). 



Genus 23. AMPHOTERUS, nov. 



A strange insect, showing venation and scutellum of Eumerus, 

 but with quite simple hind femora, and having the head and 

 antennae of Microdon. It differs from any other Syrphid genus 

 yet known by the shortness of the first antennal joint and by the 

 elongation of the second, which is much longer than the third. 

 I was at first inclined to consider this insect as an aberrant Microdon 

 with shortened first antennal joint ; but on account of the venation 

 I now think it better to regard it as a E inner us with elongated 

 second antennal joint. This connecting form between Eumerus 

 and Microdon is a very interesting novelty ; the discovery of its 

 larva will probably explain the question. 



Body dull, strongly chitinizecl, deeply punctate. Head a little 

 broader than the thorax ; eyes bare, shining, with equal facets, 

 widely separated in the male, but with the inner angles approaching 

 each other, and with the usual transverse furrow between the angles ; 

 face broader than the frons, gently convex, comparatively narrow, 

 without furrows ; opening of buccal cavity very small ; proboscis 

 but little prominent ; antennae longer than the face and pendulous ; 

 first joint exceedingly short, scarcely noticeable below the lunula ; 

 second joint very long, thin, almost bare ; third joint elongated, 

 broader than the second and a little more than half its length ; 

 arista verv thin, bare, rather long, inserted rather far from the 



