The Diptera of Suffolk: Families xvi-xxii

58

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK. (Cont. from page 14.)

FAMILY xvi: RHAGIONIDAE (Leptidae sec. Verrall, Brit. Flies 1909, pp. 232-319—Brit.Jspp. 19.)

Rhagio scolopacea, Linn.—Of this small family, at least superficially resembling the more typical Anisopodidae, Suffolk can boast only the most general half-dozen kinds, nor have any been added since 1915. The present is the commonest, conspicuous all through summer, sitting head downwards upon tree-trunks in marshes ; the $ $ rarely come to light about 6 July: Sudbury, Ipswich, Falkenham, Staverton, Brandeston, Monks Soham, Thorp by sea, Oulton, Fritton (Baker), Bury, Timworth, Brandon, &c.

R. tringaria, L.—Sporadic and always found singly, 17 June-27 Aug. : Bentley Woods, Ipswich in 1893, Monks Soham windows and paddock (four in forty years), Sotterley Park ; Tostock (Tuck), Timworth (Nurse) ; Knettishall Heath ; a melanic <J at Barton Mills (Verrall, p. 272).

R. nigriventris, Lw.—Tuddenham (Nurse), to which Fen it seems confined with us ; there a half-dozen have been taken, sitting in the swampiest situations, 15 July-21 Aug., 1906-39.

R. lineola, Fab.—Common everywhere : Bentley Woods on mothsugar in 1895, Ipswich, Staverton, Thorndon, Monks Soham, Barnby, Tostock, Timworth, Ampton, Tuddenham, Brandon pales and staunch, &c.

Chrysophilus cristatus, Fab.—Ubiquitous and abundant : Sudbury, Bentley Woods, Foxhall, Ipswich in 1893, Claydon, several in cop. in Staverton Thicks on 26 June 1923, Brandeston, often sitting in profusion on Epilobium by water at Monks Soham, the Broads, Bury, Timworth, Tuddenham.

C. aureus, Mg.—Frequently observed sitting about casually on low herbage in hedges and woods, June to August: Sudbury, Bentley Woods, Bramford ; Monks Soham garden, where on 12 Aug. 1917 both sexes were sitting four feet high on elm-leaves in orchard at 3 p.m., so sluggishly that they were easily taken in a small glass-tube; Tostock, Timworth.

Only 6 of the 19 British species.

FAMILY xvii: BOMBYLIDAE. (sec. Verrall, Brit. Flies 1909, pp. 474-536—Brit. spp. 9.)

Phthiria pulicaria, Mik.—It is probably twenty years [1813] since I took two females on the coast of Suffolk, one of which I presented to Dr. Leach, who placed it in the British Museum.

Before that time it was unknown in this country. I visited Suffolk last June [1833] and found a sufficient number to supply all my friends, and detected the male which I had

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

59

never before seen. I found both sexes sucking the florets of Hieracium pilosellae and Hypochceris radicata on the denes at Covehithe " (Curtis). No later record south of Winterton.

Bombylius discolor, Mik.—Local in woody places, 9 April-12 May : Sudburv (Ransom) rare in gardens (Harwood); commonly sucking Nepeta glechoma flowers on the wing in Bentley Woods 1893-7, none later ; Felixstow, Chillesford churchyard 1930 ; several at Primrose flowers in Parham Wood 1922-3, one in Framlingham garden 1923 (Vinter), rare in Monks Soham churchyard and garden, where one hovered twelve feet from ground in sun at 10 a.m. 12 May, 1941 ; Tostock (Tuck), Newmarket garden (Verrall).

B. major, Linn.—Widely distributed and often common hovering at early flowers in woods ; rare about the coast and Ipswich ; 22 March-22 May : Sudbury gardens, common (Harwood 1916), beaten from fir-trees in Bentley Woods (Elliott), where it is rare and once occurred 13 June in 1929 ; Barham, Coddenham, Brandeston, Letheringham and Parham woods, Peasenhall; Framlingham (Vinter), Ashfield, Winston; none at Monks Soham 1904-14, gradual increase tili abundant 1941 ; Stoke Ash, Braiseworth, Thornham Parva, Wickham Skeith churchyard, Thorndon garden, Oakley ; Brampton Wood ; Beccles (Goldsmith), Herringfleet; rather common at Beiton and Burgh Castle before 1834 (Pagets) ; Tostock (Tuck), common at Timworth (Nurse), Lidgate churchyard ; common in Newmarket garden (Verrall).

Unusually prevalent in 1940.

B. canescens, Mik.—Mr. Tuck took a specimen at Tostock in 1897, referred to this species by Verrall.

Anthrax Paniscus, Ross.—A coast species that persists, from the old Fen Sea, in the Breck ; 22 July-18 Aug. : abundant at Felixstow 1896 (Piffard), still there 1897 ; several on Thorp sea-denes 1931 and those at Sizewell 1932-7 (Proc. iii, p. clvii), Southwold shore 1926 ; " specimens in the beginning of July 1822 Aying among rushes at Covehithe " (Curtis' A. Hottentotta), on which Heath it persisted in July 1922 ; Kessingland; Lowestoft district 1900 (Tuck), on which denes several were taken in 1908. " Only localities I know in Britain away from coast are sandy commons near Barton Mills, and perhaps neighbourhood of Darenth in Kent, but many marine insects and plants occur near Barton Mill " (Verrall, 530).

A. cingulatus, Mg.—One $ hovering at flowers in Leiston Abbey lane on 25 July 1899 (Mly.).

A. circumdatus, Mg.—One was sitting on flowers in Tuddenham Fen on 29 Aug. 1902 ; and the A. Paniscus, later recorded hence by Col. Nurse, were doubtless co-specific.

So we have 7 of the 12 British kinds.

60

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

FAMILY xviii: THERF.VIDAE. (sec. Verrall, Brit. Flies 1909, pp. 537-89—Brit. spp. 10.)

Tliereva fulva, Mg.—Several sitting in sunshine on a hedge at Braisworth on 30 May 1916 (Mly.).

T. nobilitata, Fab.—Sufficiently common, sitting on leaves and herbage everywhere, 27 May-31 July: Sudbury, Raydon and Bentley woods, frequent round Ipswich, Shrubland Park ; common on Nettles near Sudbourne 1907 (Verrall, 562), Staverton on Bracken, Farnham, infrequent in Monks Soham garden, Gorleston, Burgh Castle ; Gilingham (Bloomfield), Shipmeadow ; Timworth (Nurse), Barton Mills, Mildenhall, Brandon ; Newmarket garden (Verrall).

T. plebeia, Linn.—Very little rarer than the last but less observed, 14 May-28 July : Sudbury, in cop. in Trimley marshes on 7 June 1898 ; Foxhall, Bramford, Shrubland Park, Monks Soham, Southwold, Gorleston; Timworth and Ampton (Nurse), Tuddenham Fen, Newmarket.

T. circumscripta, Lw.—Mixed with the last kind : in Newbourn rederag pit on 19 May 1934, ?t Linstead Magna church on 6 June 1931, and sitting on bare sand in wood at Barton Mills on 7 July 1920.

T. bipunetata, Mg.—Our most frequent species, 2 June-4 Aug. : Foxhall, Bentley Woods, Ipswich, Shrubland, Staverton, Parham Wood, Thorp sea-denes, Monks Soham in cop. on 10 June, Walberswick, Southwold sea-cliff; Yarmouth south (Collin) and north denes ; Tostock, Timworth ; not rare in Breck district (Harwood), at Tuddenham, Barton Mills (Verrall), Brandon in 1906 (Elliott) and there Aying at dusk on was 24 July, where a $ yet lingered on 26 Aug. that year. A o reared in a week or so from undoubtedly its own puparium, strongly resembling a Hepialid-moth chrysalis, found on 14 May 1898 under a sod in a wet Situation at Felixstow salt-marshes.

T. annulata, Fab.—Supposed to occur on sandy coasts and does so in Norfolk, but not with us. Here it abounds all round Brandon, where itflies19 May to 7 Aug., sits on bare sand in the hottest summer sun and is in cop. on 14 June ; thence it radiates over the Breck to Tuddenham and Cavenham ; to Barton Mills (Verrall), Bamham (Norgate), Culford (Nurse) and even Tostock (sec. Tuck).

Here are 6 of the 10 indigenous species.

FAMILY xix : SCENOPINIDAE. Scenopinus fenestralis, Linn.—Always inside house-windows except once when Verrall took two 5 on Asparagus in his Newmarket garden in late June 1901 ; 1 July-9 Aug. ; gregarious but very local: Nacton, Ipswich, Blakenham

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

61

Parva, all singly; Monks Soham house windows and in stable annually but of varying plenty, common in 1928, 1935, &c., always most numerous in mid-July, at light on 10 Sept. 1918 and once found (? hibernated—EMM. 1921, p. 155) 3 May in 1921 ; in Hannings at Framlingham 1918 (Vinter) ; two at Tostock July (Tuck), one at Timworth June (Nurse), Thetford in July (Curtis' senilis).

S. niger, DeG.—Never occurs among the above. " Mr. Tuck has recorded it from Tostock in May 1898 " (Verrall, 602).

Confirmed by a $ taken inside a window of the Bell Hotel at Thetford on 6 Aug. 1931 (Elliott, Mly.). [On 23 June 1934 the $ was hovering, just like Pipizella, at CW«s-borings in an old Oak at Denny Wood in New Forest.—CM.].

Here are 2 of the 3 British species.

FAMILY xx : CYRTIDAE. (sec. Verrall, Brit. Flies 1909, pp. 447-69—Brit. spp. 3.)

Acrocera globulus, Panz.—Much rarer than in Cumberland : two Aying low over marsh in sun on Walberswick Heath on 16 July 1912 ; two beaten birch bushes in Tuddenham Fen on 2 July-12 Aug. 1903-6 (Mly.).

Oncodes gibbosus, Linn—A large specimen with unusually broad abdominal pale bands was swept in Barnby Broad on 12 July 1900 (Verrall, 466).

Of the sole 3 British kinds, 2 are found here.

FAMILY xxi: TABANIDAE. (sec. Verrall, Brit. Flies 1909, pp. 320-439 ; Goffe in Tr. Ent. Soc. S. Engl. 1930, pp. 43-114.—Brit. spp. 27.)

Haematopota (Chrysozona, Gof. nec Scud.) pluvialis, L.—Rarely common enough to be pestilent, generally distributed, nearly confined to July: Sudbury, Brantham, Bentley Woods, Ipswich, males on Coniumflowersat Wheistead on 4 July, Brandeston; Framlingham (Vinter), Ashfield, quite rare at Monks Soham, males swept at Braiseworth ; Blythbro Wood, Walberswick, Sotherton, Frostenden, Beccles ; Bury district (Tuck), Timworth (Nurse), abundant on horses at Brandon in June 1921.

H. crassicornis, Whlb.—Distinctly scarce, sitting on posts, &c., rarely attacking man, 18 May-12 Aug. : Sudbury in 1916 (Harwood), Brantham in 1898, Bentley Woods, Wherstead, Felixstow sandhils 1896 ; Ipswich 1908 (Bennett), Brandeston, only once at Monks Soham, several in Oulton Broad 16 June 1922, Blundeston marshes 1936, Shipmeadow marsh ; Timworth (Nurse), Brandon rate.

H. Italica, Mg.—Rare : one $ in Bentley Woods on 16 June 1919 (infiftyyears); Ipswich district 1908 (Bennett) ; not uncommon at Woodbridge up to 31 Aug. in 1907, and

62

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

one $ at Aldeburgh 19 Sept. (Verrall, 345). On the sultry hazy morning of 29 July 1924, a congeries of ten males was dancing in the sun and windless air at 10 a.m. (not 11, as others of this genus are known to do) six feet from the sand above wooden railings on the sea-shore at Southwold pier : the whole were captured.

H. Bigoti, Verr.—Two among reeds on 12 July 1908 at Chillesford (Verrall, 770) ; Orford in 1908 (King); Aldeburgh in Aug. 1922 (Mus. Brit.).

Therioplectes tropicus, Mg.—Surprisingly infrequent and nearly absent from east Suffolk, late June-July : Suffolk (form typ., which is rare : Verrall, 360) ; Bentley Woods but not since 1893-4 ; rare in Lound Wood, now felled, before 1834 (Pagets).

Assington Thicks 1916 (Hatwood) always common in Raydon Wood 1894-1941 ; Bury district (Tuck). In the Breck it is common, with var. bisigtiatus, Jaen, at Tuddenham Fen in July (Sparke), Barton Mills (Elliott), Brandon in 1926 (Mly.), Fakenham Wood (Nurse).

T. distinguendus, Verr.—Wider spread than the last but raie : one at Foxhall 21 July 1904 ; Orford in 1908 (King), Glemham Magna circa 1860 (Bloomfield), one at Frostenden brick-pits 14 July 1926 and several in Barnby Broad 1898 (Elliott); occasionally at Tostock (Tuck). Breck district (Harwood) : W. Stow (Nurse), not rare in Tuddenham Fen (Sparke.)

T. solstitialis, Mg.—One $ in Barnby Broad on 12 July 1900 (Mly.).

Atylotus fulvus, Mg.—"Tabanus alpinus [Sehr. 1798 et Curt. 78].

Beiton bog, rare " (Pagets 1834), now doubtless extinet.

Tabanus autumnalis, Linn.—Suffolk (Verrall, 403), rarely noticed : Ipswich district in 1908 (Bennett), Monks Soham twice, in garden in July 1906 and 1943, and at school on 30 June 1924 (Miss Watson); one sitting on field-gate in lane at Huntingfield at 10.30 a.m. 30 July 1942 (Mly.) ; one sitting on house wall on Southwold front in July 1900 (Claude Pyett).

Frequent on Herringfleet and Fritton pine-trunks in late June 1949-50 (Jim Burton).

T. maciilicornis, Zett—Taken in Assington Thicks, now felled, during 1916 (Harwood).

T. bromius, Linn.—Very local and never common, 8 July-16 Aug. : Assington in 1916 (Harwood), Felixstow 1903 (Gibbs), several in Shrubland Park 1921, Ashfield-Thorp Lodge one 1941 ; five in forty years at Monks Soham windows and garden, one on 16 Aug. 1915 at light at 8.30 p.m. [also at moth-light in New Forest on 16 July 1936] ; Huntingfield in mid-July 1942 (Hocken) ; two at Timworth. (Nurse).

Chrysops cacutiens, Linn.—Our most frequent Tabanid but never common, 13 June-6 Aug. : Sudbury (Harwood), Raydon Wood 1941 (P. J. Burton), Dodnash and Bentley woods, Ipswich; Needham (Platten), Letheringham and Parham

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

63

woods ; Brandeston, rarely at Monks Soham, Frostenden ; Oulton Broad (Bedwell), common about Yarmouth (Pagets), Tostock (Tuck), Fakenham (Nurse).

C. relicta, Mg.—Less general than the last with us and never common, 16 June-10 Aug. : Felixstow, Trimley, Ipswich,, Sproughton ; Orford (King), rare at Monks Soham ; Walberswick, Southwold, Benacre (Bloomfield 1896), many at Oulton Broad 1898 (Elliott), common about Yarmouth (Pagets 1834), Barnby Broad, Shipmeadow; Newmarket.

C. sepulchralis, Fab.—Three males on Heracleum sphondylium flowers in July : two on 12th 1908 and 23rd 1927 in Monks.

Soham paddock, one inside Sibton Abbey ruins on 25th 1899 (Mly.).

All which shows 14 of the 27 British kinds.

FAMILY xxii: ASILIDAE. (sec. Verrall, Brit. Flies 1909, pp. 474-536—Brit. spp. 26.)

Philonicus albiceps, Mg.—Confined to coast (and Breck), very common and often in cop. ; 24 July-12 Aug. : Felixstow, Sizewell, Covehithe 1922, and in 1898 Lowestoft denes where one was carrving as prey a dead $ Borborus equinus in its front legs. Ä $, at Brandon waterworks in 1906, was devouring Syrphus ribesii beneath a plant of Erodium cicutarium in sand. [On 18 July 1916 Mr. G. M. Russell of Cqventry sent me one from Hants. coast, with J Polyommatus minimus, Fues., in its clasp ; Mr. Clutterbuck in 1917 one with " Dipterous " prey from Braunton Burrows.—CM.].

Asilus crabroniformis, Linn.—Rare and local (economy EMM. 1899, 116), 2 Aug.-mid-Sept. : Sudbury (Harwood), not rare in Assington Thicks, c. 1910 (keeper Wheel); Bentley Woods, sitting on sand in sun, 1895-7, probably extinct; sometimes common infieldsat Fritton (Pagets 1834) and one, sitting on bare sand at Caldecot Hall, there 1924 ; Tostock (Tuck), two at Culford 1938 (Proc. Ent. Soc. 1939, 17) ; Newmarket, up to 1908 (Verrall). [Common at Stockbridge.—Miss Chawner], Dysmachus trigonus, Mg.—Attached to sand, hence only locally common, 19 May-18 Aug., but usuallv in cop. circa 24 June : Felixstow denes 1896, where Verrall took a peculiar <J; Bentley Woods rare, Staverton, Glevering Park in Hacheston ; Southwold, Easton and Pakefield cliffs ; Lowestoft denes 1881 (Verrall) and 1898 ; sitting on pales in Gorleston 1935 ; Bungay (Tuck), common all round Timworth (Nurse); Worlingham, &c., in Breck (Harwood), Tuddenham, Brandon.

Eutolmus rufibarbis, Mg.—" Mr. J. E. Collin caught $ and two $2 at Tangham Forest at end of August 1907 " (Verrall).

64

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

Machimus rusticus, Mg.—Formerly mixed in Suffolk with the next kind, but much rarer, 6 June-26 Aug. : always singly at Bentley Woods with Neoitamus, Glevering Park, on Lowestoft Denes with Philonicus ; Tuddenham and thrice about Brandon, where was a $ on 26 Aug. 1906 devouring the debris of a Syrphus-fly.

M. atricapillus, Fln.—Frequent everywhere, sitting obliquely on posts and rails, 6 July-10 Sept., in cop. on 10 Aug. : Bentley Woods, Ipswicb in 1894, Foxhall on Angelica leaves, Walberswick, S. Cove sitting on sand ; common at Timworth (Nurse) and in Breck late in Aug., Mildenhall, &c. (Harwood).

Neoitamus cyanurus, Lw.—A sylvan insect, common in all our larger woods, often sitting on oak-trunks and on pines, 30 May-7 Sept., in cop. 13 June which is lts usual month : Bentley Woods from 1894, common there in late June 1920 (Elliott), Wherstead, Foxhail; Ipswich (Bennett), Shrubland Park, Aldringham ; Ampton and W. Stow (Nurse), in the Breck at Barton Mills, Wangford Martin, on pine at Brandon.

Here its observed prey include Haematopota pluvialis, Empis tessellata, Syrphus sp., Hydriomena truncata, Tortrix viridana and Hepialus lupulinus.

N. cothurnatus, Mg.—A single ? was swept in Bentley Woods on 16 May 1896 (Mly.).

Epitriptus cingulatus, Fab.—Frequent everywhere in gravelly situations, especially along the Gipping Valley, 18 July-12 Sept. : always common on sandy banks at Foxhall in August; Bramford, Claydon, Blakenham Magna ; Orford and Southwold (Venall), in cop. at Blythbro Wood on 12 Sept. 1939 ; common in west Suffolk (Nurse) at Tuddenham, &c.

I.aphria marginata, Linn.—A survival from our mediaeval forests, now confined to a few woods, often sitting on posts and trunks in sun about 11 a.m. ; 25 June-7 Sept. : Suffolk (Verrall, 703) ; several in a little wood near Sudbury in 1836 (Entom. Mag. iv, 231), now extinct in that district (Harwood); singly in Letheringham Park 1921, Wangford Wood 1928, and a pair in Denham Wood near Hoxne in July 1923 ; Bury district 1897 (Tuck), a pair at Ampton and Timworth (Nurse); Mildenhall (Harwood).

Isopogon brevirostris, Mg.—" About late June Mr. Dale and the Rev. L. Jenyns met with it in plenty at the Devils Dyke," Newmarket (Curtis, Brit. E. 1827, 153 ; Proc. Ent. Soc. 1904, p. xxxii); Newmarket 8 July 1905 (Collin). Much rarer than in the hilly Cotswolds district.

Lasiopogon cinctus, Fab.—A heath insect, with us nearly confined to the Breck district, where it abounds in great plenty among the lower undulations, 9 May-17 June : Mildenhall (Philip Harwood), Barton Mills in 1924, numerously sitting on bare sand, and in cop. on 23 May, to east and south of Brandon

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

65

1923-34 though never seen in former years ; extending to Culford where a pair occurred 2 May 1911 (Nurse). East Suffolk can show only a pair sitting on a gate-rail by Bromeswell Heath on 22 May 1924, and one beaten from sallow by Blythbro Heath on 9 May 1938.

Dioctria atricapilla, Mg.—Abounds in the New Forest and Cotswolds, but barely a füll dozen Suffolk examples are known : always single specimens at Long Melford in 1916 (Harwood), Bentley Woods 18 June 1923, Brandeston marshes 8 June 1922, Monks Soham 1943, Chediston Hall 1942, Wortham marshes of Waveney 9 June 1900 ; Tuddenham about 1910 (Nurse) and Town-street in Brandon 22 May 1933 ; only at Tostock in both June and July (Tuck).

D. (Elandica, Linn.—Extremely local in woods, apparently strongly decadent, 11 May-20 June: Cornard Parva in 1916 (Harwood) ; Bentley Woods, where it abounded in all the glades 1893-1902, then pheasants were introduced and it utterly vanished for a quarter-century, tili one reappeared 9 June 1926 but none later. [I forget whence my Bawdsey and Mildenhall records emanated in 1915, possibly from Elliott's coli, now in Mus. Hastings.—CM.] D. rufipes, DeG.—Common everywhere infieldsand hedges, excepting arable land, 2 June-24 July : Sudbury, Bentley Woods, Ipswich, in cop. at Claydon bridge 11 June 1897; Martlesham, two only in forty years in Monks Soham paddock in 1916-9 ; Westleton, Covehithe, Braiseworth, Wortham, Gorleston ; Tostock, Timworth ; Tuddenham, Brandon ; Newmarket, Moulton.

D. Baumhaueri, Mg.—As extensive with and rather more frequent than the last kind, though never found at Monks Soham : 13 June-18 July, from Levington and Burgh Castle to Brandon and Newmarket.

D. linearis, Mg.—Known with us solely in Assington Thicks near Sudbury, where it was quite common in June-July 1900-2 and, Mr. Bernard Harwood assured us, persisted there in 1916. These woods are now felled, so the species is probably extinct in our County.

Leptogaster cylindrica, DeG.—Flying numerously in every unmown meadow from Orford to Mildenhall, from 5 June to 10 August; not rarely in cop. about 1 July.

L. guttiventris, Zett.—Verrall records this form from Barton Mills and near Orford ; Bloomfield considered Tuck took it at Tostock ; and it occurred in Tuddenham Fen on 10 August 1928. The distinctions from the last kind are inconstant.

Hence we have 19 of the 26 indigenous species.