A 



PRELIMINARY LIST 



OF 



DURHAM DIPTERA 



WITH 



ANALYTICAL TABLES 



BY 



The Rev. W. J. Wingate. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following pages are practically a guide to the small 

 collection of Durham Flies, now in the Society's Museum, 

 and which I collected since 1896, mostly in the southern half 

 of the county. A few words of explanation are due as to the 

 form which it takes, and the presence of the numerous tables 

 of genera and species. The latter are introduced, because in 

 no other way could the characteristic, but not always obvious, 

 points of agreement and difference be more simply and 

 shortly indicated, and also in order that, as there is no easily 

 accessible book in English on Flies, this list might give the 

 beginner some indication of how to identify his captures. All 

 that I venture to claim for it is, that it may be found better 

 than nothing. It is the outcome of my own disappointments. 

 Many a time have I pounced upon some descriptive list of 

 local species in transactions and magazines, hoping to be able 

 to identify some specimens I had taken, only to find that the 

 learned phraseology, the want of analysis indicating clearly 

 the points of difference, and the unnecessary repetition of 

 points of agreement, made it an almost hopeless task. Life 

 is too short for this weary groping after the undefined, but a 



