146 AN ACCOUNT OF BRITISH FLIES. 
yellow, brownish beneath ; palpi yellow; antennz shorter than the 
body ; brown, yellowish at base. Legs long, yellow ; tarsi brownish- 
black, with black hairs. Wings grayish. Length 2} to 3} lin. 
Walker mentions a variety with testaceous bands on the antenne. 
The other five British species are all fairlycommon. JZ centrais, 
Mg., angulata, Mg.=vittata, Macq., and stigma, are described in 
Curtis’s ‘ British Entomology’ (637, 3), (637, 2) and (637, 6). 1837. 
M. phalerata, Mg. (Verh. d. Zool. Bot. Ges., xiii., 683, 13.) 
M. lutea, Mg. (Meigen, System. Beschr., i., 223, 1.) 
M. maculata, Mg., is also described by Curtis (B. E., 637, 4), but 
is placed amongst the reputed species by Verrall. 
SEcTION 6.—Bo/itophiline. 
This section again only includes one genus, so we may combine 
the characters of genus and section together. 
Body slender. Head small. Eyes round and prominent. Ocelli 
three, nearly in a straight line. Labium short and broad. Proboscis 
short. Palpi 4-jointed, cylindrical; first, second and third joints 
short, fourth long and slender. Antennz 16-jointed, slender, seti- 
form, shorter than body; apex attenuated, but not segmented ; 
pubescent in 4, longer than 9; in the latter they are bare. ‘Thorax 
long. Abdomen long and attenuated ; nine segments, last segment 
small, cylindrical in ¢ ; fusciform in ? ; eighth and ninth segments 
very small. Legs long, very slender ; tibize with no spines or spurs. 
Wings minutely hairy ; third longitudinal forked, upper branch nearly 
at right angles, joining second vein near its tip ; fourth longitudinal 
vein emitting a transverse veinlet which joins the third, forked imme- 
diately after this; sixth and seventh do not reach the border. 
Areolets fourteen. ‘These gnats appear almost all the year, and are 
found in shady and damp places ; they are often met with in winter, 
especially on mild days, even when snow is on the ground. Walker 
says they “are allied to Dixa and Trichocera,” but the neuration is 
entirely distinct from both. 
Macrocera, Klt., Mg. 
Messala, Curt. 
There are four species in the genus, two of which are found in 
England and two in Russia. : 
GENuS Bolitophila, Mg. = 
B. cinerea, Mg. 
This is a grayish-black gnat, with testaceous palpi. Pectus also 
testaceous, and so are the antennez at the base. Legs yellowish, 
tibize and tarsi blackish. Wings with a small gray spot on the costa 
