123 



segments ; apical segment with six stout processes which are more or 

 less radiated and pointed. 



According to a few Dipterogists the females lay their eggs in 

 a cluster on the stems or leaves of a certain plants growing on the 

 marshy field. 



The flies commonly seen around pasturing animals, or siting 

 on tree-trunks ; the females usually attack cattle or horses, or even 

 sometimes the back of human beings, while the males usually occur 

 resting on leaves or on ranks, and hover in the sunshine in the early 

 morning even before sunrise, especially in mountainous regions. I 

 never met any males of this genus flying in the evening as Chrysops do. 



Tabanus (including Therioplectes and Aty lotus) is a very 

 widely distributed genus and contains about I no rather distinct species 

 all over the world ; about 285 species are known to occur in Asia 

 (and more than 120 species are recorded from the oriental region), of 

 which 44 species belong to Japanese fauna ; about 73 species have been 

 recorded from Europe, about 142 species from Africa, over 485 from 

 America, and about 72 from Australia and New Zealand. 



Subg. Therioplecte;, Zell. 

 Isis, XI, p. 819, 1842. 



Head of the male not differing much in size or shape from 

 that of the female ; eyes of the both sexes distinctly pubescent with 

 the cross-bands, the facets in the male sometimes uniform or sometimes 

 very moderately or distinctly different in size ; ocelligerous tubercle 



more or less distinct. 



* 



There are only four distinct species from Japan, in which three 

 species occur in Europe, and another species, hirtieeps Loew, is 

 known only in Hokkaido and Sakhalin. 



Key for Speties. 



I. Body large and robust, more than 2O mm. in length ; legs reddish 

 yellow with the basal two-thirds of femora blackish ; abdomen dense- 



