148 ALLANTUS FLAV1PES. 



first yellow ; there is a black line over tlie posterior femora. Other- 

 wise it is of the same coloration as the ? . 

 Length 5 5? lines. 



The yellowish wings and legs, as well as the fact of 

 all the abdominal segments being broadly marked with 

 the same colour, the yellow posterior tarsi and the 

 black anterior, as well as the large yellow spot on the 

 pleuraB, will readily enable this species to be identified. 

 Compared with arcuatus the body is smoother and not 

 nearly so strongly punctured. The red and yellow 

 abdomen of the $ makes it very conspicuous compared 

 to the same sex in the other British species. In both 

 sexes the amount of yellow on the body varies. 



Two accounts have been published of the early 

 history of this insect. Curtis (1. c.) relates that the 

 perfect insect appeared in abundance at the end of 

 June in Batter sea Fields. Wishing to obtain living 

 specimens he went out there, and found two females 

 upon the flowers of Sinapis nigra and also six larvae, 

 which fed on that plant as well as on 8. alba. The 

 larvae ate the leaves, stalks and flowers. Curtis, 

 unfortunately, did not manage to rear these larvae, but 

 he had no doubt about their being those of A. flavipes. 

 Mr. F. Smith, too, confirms this opinion, he having 

 reared them himself. According to Curtis' s figure of 

 the larva it was of a grey colour, with ten (? eleven) 

 large black marks over the legs ; above each of these, 

 again, is a small black dot. The head is testaceous. 

 At the last moult the black marks were cast off, 

 except those on the head (which are not shown in the 

 figure). The pupa state was passed in the earth. 



The other account is given by Kaltenbach, who says 

 that F. Eppelsheim bred the insect at the beginning of 

 June. The larvae fed up to the end of September on 

 the yellow flowers of Bupleurum falcatum, but not 

 eating the upper tender leaves. Unfortunately no 

 further details are given. In any case, however, I 

 think there can be no doubt as to the correctness of 

 the observations of Curtis and Smith. 



