HOVER-FLIES IN ESSEX
83
prisingly there are also several records from Epping Forest: Brunetti
(1890); Harwood, 14 June 1914 (BM) and several specimens in HD
covering the period 1914 to 1919.
P. clypeatus Mg. 24 May-5 September
VC 18, 19. Common, usually in marshy places. I have no records of
feeding at flowers.
P. angustatus Zett. 9 April-5 August
VC 18, 19. Widespread, but especially common along the Thames
marshes. Chandler (1969) says that it habitually feeds at grass flowers, and
certainly I have usually found it in long grass.
Xanthandrus comtus Harris
VC 19. There is a single female of this very rare fly in HD labelled
'Colchester, Harwood'.
Melanostoma ambiguum Fln.
VC 18, 19. A spring species, which is almost certainly much commoner
than the few records suggest. Its close superficial similarity to Platychirus
albimanus must often cause it to be overlooked. Epping Forest, 25 April
and 24 May 1953 (Griffiths, 1945); Loughton, garden, 22 May 1965
(Payne, 1968); Westcliff, garden, 8 May and 31 May 1971, 21 April 1972;
Little Waltham Alder Carr Reserve, in marsh, 22 April 1972; Eastwood,
30 April 1972 (E. T. Levy).
M. scalare F. 15 April-11 October
VC 18, 19. A very common fly, observed at flowers of Hedera helix,
Foeniculum vulgare, Heracleum sphondylium, Sison amomum, Convolvulus
arvensis, Centaurea nigra, Picris echioides, Senecio erucifolius and Tarax-
acum sp.
M. mellinum L. 30 April-23 September
VC 18, 19. At least as common as M. scalare, and observed at flowers
of Ranunculus repens, Cardaria draba, Diplotaxis tenufolia, Daucus carota,
Foeniculum vulgare, Heracleum sphondylium, Plantago lanceolata, Achillea
millefolium, Centaurea nigra, Crepis capillaris and Picris echioides.
Syrphus torvus Osten-Sacken
VC 18, 19. Possibly commoner than the following few records imply,
but overlooked in the field because of its close similarity to the abundant
S. ribesii and S. vitripennis. Colchester, High Woods, 1911 (Harwood, in
HD); Epping Forest, 11 May 1946 (LP); Brentwood, 21 June 1959;
Coopersale Common, on Taraxacum, 1 May 1965; Hadleigh, on Cirsium
arvense, 14 July 1969; Eastwood, August 1971 (E. T. Levy); Benfleet,
plentiful on Smyrnium olusatrum, 28 April 1973; Leigh, on Alliaria
petiolata, 13 May 1973; Bowers Gifford, on Inula helenium, July 1973.