32 



LT.-COL. S. MONCKTON COPEMAN ON 



be of interest to quote from Major Austen's reply, of May 17tli, 

 1919, as follows:— 



" The fly enclosed with your letter is a most interesting thing, 

 and I am more tluin sorry that I have been unable to name it 



for you The species of the genus Miltogrcwima (fam. Tachi- 



nidse) and its nearest allies behave exactly as you described, and on 

 more than one occasion I have watched one of these flies stalking 



Text-figure 1. 



Sammomyia {Sylephila) unilineata Zett., $ . 



(The mark in the centre of the thorax is due to the fly having been 

 pinned before the photograph was taken.) 



Magnified XlO. 



a solitary bee as a stoat does a rabbit — moving when the bee 

 moved, stopping when the bee stopped, and so on. Judge of my 

 surprise, therefore, when, on opening the box, I found an insect 

 such as, to the best of my belief, in nearly thirty years' experience 

 of Diptera, I have never seen before ! The species undoubtedly 

 belongs to the Anthomi/idce — not to the Tachinidse, — but is aber- 

 rant in more than one respect. It is not represented either 

 in our own collection or in the series presented by the late 



