1890.] 109 



C. lEPTiPENNis, Fall. — Of this I have one taken by my father in the Leigh 

 Woods, Bristol, May 25th, 1845. It is considered to be a variety of elegans. 



C. ANTENNATA, Zett. — A (J of this I took at Glanville's Wootton, May 15th, 

 1878. It is much smaller than elegans, and very distinct. 



Platycnema pulicaria, Fall. — Not scarce on oaks in May. 



Opetia nigra, Meig. — My specimens were taken by Mr. Ilaliday, at Belfast, 

 in June, 1838. 



Glanville's Wootton : 



February, 1890. 



Capture of two rare species of Mycetophilidca. — Fmpheria jnctipennis, Hal. : of 

 this exceedingly pretty fly I took a specimen on October 8th, 1887 ; it was described 

 from a specimen taken in Devonshire by Haliday in the Entomological Magazine 

 for 1833. I know of no others. ISciara elegans, Winn. : of this I took a couple at 

 Glanville's Wootton on August 27th and October 3rd, 1889 ; this is a species entirely 

 new to Britain, and was kindly named for me by Mr. Verrall. — C. W. Dale, 

 Glanville's Wootton, Dorset : February 2^rd, 189J. 



The Bigelovia Cecid. — As I had occasion to refer to this undescribed species 

 in your last volume, pp. 324, 363, it may not be amiss to offer a description of it : — 



Cecidomyia bigelovice, n. sp. $ , length, about 2f mill. ; expanse, about 4 mill. 

 Head and thorax dark ; abdomen reddish. Antennae pale brownish, hairy, 13-jointed. 

 Thorax dark brown, smooth ; scutellum smooth ; halteres whitish ; abdomen dull 

 pinkish-red, only slightly hairy, with a pale ovipositor quite two-thirds as long as 

 abdomen. Legs pale brownish. Wings hyaline, somewhat iridescent, lower margin 

 fringed. Yenation as in C. destructor. Bred, May, 1889, from galls of Trypeta 

 bigelovia, n. sp., on Bigelovia, West Cliif, Colorado. On June 3rd, two apparent 

 males were found in the box with the galls, but they were dead and dried up, so 

 that their structure could not be made out. The egg of this species is elongate, with 

 rounded ends and approximately parallel sides, its contents are orange. The Trypeta 

 was also bred from these galls, and a description of it will be published.— T. D. A. 

 CoCKERELi, West Cliff, Custer Co., Colorado : February 2Uh, 1890. 



Tolucella bombylans, L.,and its variation. — There is a fly, Vohicella bombylans, 

 which consists of two quite distinct varieties, in one the abdomen towards the tip is 

 clothed with orange-coloured hairs, while the base of the abdomen and the thorax 

 are quite black, in the other the tip of the abdomen is clothed with white hairs, and 

 the base of the abdomen and the thorax are clothed with tawny hairs ; one variety 

 does not seem more uncommon than the other. I have taken the two varieties to- 

 gether, but have always fonnd them quite distinct, and with no connecting links. 

 All the authorities on the Diptera that I have been able to consult are agreed that 

 the larva of Volucella bombylans is parasitic in the nests of humble-bees, but none 

 of them mention whether it is so on any particular species of Bombus. 



While wondering on this curious dimorphism, it suddenly struck me that the 

 red-tailed variety closely mimics Bombus lapidarius, wlnle the white-tailed variety 

 mimics Bombus terrestris, and by adopting this double livery, the fly has gained 

 admittance to the nests of two of our most abundant species of lunnble-boo. 



