1898.] 



CEPHENOMYIA AURIBARBIS, Mg. : LAEY^, &c. 

 BY THE RET. E. K. ELOOMFIELD, M.A., F.E.S. 



Some weeks ago I received froai Mr. J. Mearns, of Aberdeen, 

 some larvae taken from " the heads " of Red Deer, which had been 

 sent to Mr. G. Sim, of Aberdeen, to be mounted. These larvae I sent 

 to Mr. E. E. Austen, of the British Museum. He informs me that 

 they are the larvae of Cephenomyia sp., and probably of G. nuribarhis, 

 Mg. 



On writing to Mr. Mearns for further particulars, he tells me 

 these deer came from Strathdon and other places in Aberdeenshire. 

 In one instance about thirty of these large larvae (they are about an 

 inch in length) were found near the root of the tongue of one indi- 

 vidual deer ; they were alive when extracted. 



As will be seen from Mr. Austen's paper in the present number, 

 this fly is one of the (Estrince, of which nine species belonging to five 

 genera are found in Britain ; it is parasitic in the larval state in the 

 nasal passages and throat of the Eed Deer. It was introduced as 

 British under the name of Cephenomyia rufihnrhis, Mg., by Mr. Percy 

 Grimshaw, of the Edinburgh Museum (Annals of Scottish Natural 

 History, L895, pp. 155-158), from two specimens collected in Eoss- 

 shire in 1891. 



Mr. Grimshaw has since presented a specimen to the British 

 Museum, and there is little doubt that these larvae belong to the same 

 species. 



I am indebted to the paper by Mr. Grimshaw for the following 

 particulars, which may be of interest to British Dipterists. " Cephe- 

 nomyia may be readily distinguished from GastropMlus by the inflexion 

 of the fourth longitudinal vein of the wings ; from Hypoderma by the 

 prolongation of this vein beyond the origin of the apical transverse 

 vein, by the position of the discal transverse vein, which in Hypodervia 

 joins the fourth longitudinal immediately at its angle, and especially 

 by the absence of the dividing ridge in the concavity of the face. From 

 (Estrui it differs in the apical transverse vein not uniting with the 

 third longitudinal. And from Pharyngomyia in the body being more 

 uniformly coloured, never checkered, but densely clothed with hairs." 



A full description of the genus and species and life history will 

 be found in Mr. Griuishaw's paper. I will only give a few particulars, 

 therefore, taken from his account. 



Cephenomyia auriharbi.<s, var. rufiharhis, Mg., is a large flj nearly three quarters 

 of an inch in length ; liead as broad as the thorax ; cheeks with a beautiful bright 



