46 STRATIOMYIDJE. 



contiguous for a considerable distance, facets of equal size ; in 

 5 , irons broad. Antennae as long as broad, 1st and 2nd joints 

 subequal, 3rd elongate ; indistinct}}' - annulated, with long pointed 

 bare apical style. Thorax a little longer than broad, narrower in 

 front, with a conspicuous spine on each side, just before the base ; 

 humeri elevated ; scutellum higher at base than hind part of 

 thorax ; with two long thick hairy spines. Abdomen ovate, 

 flattened, a little longer and broader than thorax and scutellum 

 together. Legs strong, moderately long ; front coxae large. 

 Wings strongly rippled, but not ribbed ; traces of posterior cross- 

 vein, as upper branch of 5th vein is in almost punctiform contact 

 with discal cell ; discal cell-veinlets distinct ; alulae unusually large ; 

 alar squamae abseut, thoracic pair small. 



Range. Europe, Japan, South Asia. 



Life-history. That of the European E. thoracicum, Panz., is 

 known ; a conspicuous but hardly a common species. The larvae 

 are parasitic in nests of the ant, Formica fuliginosa. Poser 

 records finding one in a rotten nut-tree, and thinks they must take 

 about four years to reach maturity. 



The alleged preoccupation of Ephippium by Bolten in Mollusca, 

 on which Bezzi suggested Ephippiomyia, is vei'y doubtful, accord- 

 ing to Verrall, and the original name is of too old standing to be 

 altered. 



21. Ephippium bilineatum, F. (PI. I, figs. 15, 1G.) 



Stratiomys bilineata, Fabricius, Syst. Autl. p. 79 (1805). 

 Clitellaria bivittaia, Wiedemann, Zool. Mag. i, p. 3 (1819) ; Auss. 



Zweifl. ii, p. 46 (1830). 

 Ephippium angustum, Macquart, Hist. Nat. Dipt, i, p. 2-32 (1834). 

 Rhaphiocera spinithorax, Macquart, Dipt. Exot. Supp. hi, p. 17, 



pi. i, fig. 7 (1848). 

 Clitellaria tenebrica, Walker, List Dipt. Brit. Mus. iii, p. 522 



(1849). 

 Ephippium spinigerum, Dolescliall, Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind. x, p. 407, 



pi. ix, fig. 2(1856). 

 Negritomyia bilineata, Wulp, Notes Leyd. Mus. vii, p. 95 (1885). 

 Ephippiomyia bilineatum, Brunetti, Rec. Ind. Mus. i, p. 115 (1907). 



S 2 • Head: eyes of S with rather dense brown pubescence, 

 contiguous for about the same distance as from lowest point of 

 contact to base of antennae ; vertical triangle rather small, with 

 blackish-brown hairs ; frons and face black, with dense, white or 

 whitish, rather long pubescence ; occiput black, margin with 

 minute snow-white pubescence, which nearly disappears at the 

 sides and becomes longer on lower part ; proboscis with very large 

 dark brown labella ; palpi blackish, pubescent. Antennae with first 

 two joints black, bristly ; 3rd to extreme tip of style about one and 

 a half times as long as 1st and 2nd together, dull brown, elongate, 

 conical, with three distinct broad annulations, bare, after which 

 it narrows abruptly and bears some distinct hairs and is produced 

 into a very narrow terminal style. In 5 , frons about one-twelfth 



