206 
[ February, 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF DOLERUS FROM SCOTLAND. 
BY P. CAMERON. 
Dolerfs scoticfs, n. sp. 
Black ; the four anterior knees and apex of tibiae reddish, the red on the middle 
legs being more obscure than on the front pair. Head, thorax, and apex of abdomen 
covered with a long white pubescence. Head, pleurae, and mesonotum distinctly 
punctured all over. Antennae nearly as long as the abdomen, scarcely attenuated at 
the apex. Wings hyaline, costa and stigma black, the latter pale on the under-side. 
Tegula? red. ? . Length, scarcely 4 lines. 
Agrees with D. puncticollis , Thoms., in the punctured mesonotum, 
but the puncturation is much more distinct, the body is shorter, the 
antennae longer, the abdomen more inflated, the marginal nervure is 
received further from the 2nd submarginal, the hind legs are entirely 
black, and the tegulae red. 
Taken at Braemar by Dr. Sharp in June. 
Glasgow : 10 th January, 1881. 
Dimorphism of female RIepharoceridce . — Since the publication of my article on 
this subject (p. 130 of this vol.), I received from Dr. F. Muller a very pleasant 
letter in reply. He says that there can be no doubt about the sex of those females, 
because they show distinct receptacula semi » is and eggs ; he adds that his paper, 
containing a detailed description of his observations, will be soon forthcoming. 
Dr. Muller’s discovery thus involves three facts, new to the student of Rlepharoceridce : 
1, that male and female do not always have the head and the front of the same 
structure ; 2, that some species may have two forms of females ; 3, that one of these 
forms has the organs of the mouth built upon a plan different from the type hitherto 
described as peculiar to the female. It remains now to be seen, whether some of 
the European species will not give occasion for similar observations ? Dr. Muller 
adds to his letter a photographic copy of the beautifully-executed plate which will 
be added to his paper. — C. R. Osten-Sacken, Heidelberg : January, 1881. 
Habits of Rombylius (See ante, p. 161). — The December number of the 
“ American Entomologist ” gives further details about the preying of the larva of 
Rombylius on locust-eggs. The species of the fly was ascertained by breeding, nearly 
at the same time, by Mr. Lemmon in California, and by the able Editor of the Am. 
Ent., Mr. C. Y. Riley. Two genera were obtained by Mr. Riley : Systoechus, a 
genus also represented in Europe, and occurring principally in dry plains ; and 
Triodites (0. S., Western Dipt.), belonging to the group Lomatina. It must be 
borne in mind, however, that the larvae of Rombylius (in the narrower sense) live in 
the cells of different bees ( Andrena , Colletes, llalictus), as has been ascertained by 
the direct observations of MacLeay (Ann. N. II, 1838), Morelet (Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr., 
1845, p. xxiv), Schmidt Goebel (Stett. Ent. Z ., 1876, p. 392), and T. A. Chapman 
(Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xiv, 1878, p. 196). What remains to be ascertained now, are 
the earlv stages of those larvae, which, as Mr. Riley very acutely remarks ( l . c., p. 
