88
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
took a male on 13 June 1971, and saw another male (which I did not
capture) on 17 June 1972, at precisely the same spot at the edge of a copse,
within 100 yards of the 1952 and 1960 sites.
There seems no doubt that this fine insect—one of our largest and most
distinctive hover-flies—has been breeding at Leigh for over 100 years. It
obviously has a very short flying season, and perhaps exists only in small
numbers, since a lengthy search of its known locality in both 1971 and
1972 revealed only the single specimens each year. But its secretive habits
—it does not take to the wing readily—may be partly responsible for its
apparent rarity.
Didea alneti Fln.
VC 19. Harwood (1903) cites as the first British record the male taken
by the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield at Colchester in 1893, which is now in BM.
There have been no later Essex records of this very rare insect.
Didea fasciata Macq.
VC 19. Colchester, High Woods, May 1900, and again in 1908 (Har-
wood, in HD).
Meliscaeva auricollis Mg. (Syrphus auricollis of Coe)
VC 18, 19. Although Coe (1953) refers to this as a common species, it is
certainly far from common in Essex. The only records are as follows:
Colchester (W. H. Harwood, in PE); Colchester, High Woods (Harwood,
in HD); Rochford, August 1971 (E. T. Levy). The variety maculicornis
has been recorded three times: Epping Forest, 25 August 1946 (LP);
Leigh Downs, on Senecio erucifolius flowers 17 August 1969; Westcliff, on
Pulicaria dysenterica flowers 18 August 1972.
M. cinctella Zett. (Syrphus cinctellus of Coe)
VC 18, 19. Colchester, 26 July 1916 (Harwood, in HD); Epping Forest,
25 August 1946 (LP); Warley, on Heracleum sphondylium flowers 19 July
1964; Danbury, Backwarden Reserve, on oak leaf 22 May 1970 and males
hovering beneath trees 15 July 1972; Eastwood, 6 August 1973 (E. T. Levy).
Episyrphus balteatus De Geer (Syrphus balteatus of Coe)
28 January-16 November
VC 18, 19. A ubiquitous species, and generally the most abundant of
all hover-flies in late summer, when its numbers are certainly augmented
by migration from the Continent. It seems to be an almost indiscriminate
feeder: I have records of it at flowers of Ranunculus acris, R. flammula,
Myosoton aquaticum, Agrimonia eupatoria, Filipendula ulmaria, Rubus
caesius, R. fruticosus agg., Hedera helix, Daucus carota, Foeniculum
vulgare, Silaum silaus, Sison amomum, Torilis japonica, Calluna vulgaris,
Calystegia sepium, Convolvulus arvensis, Clinopodium vulgare, Mentha
aquatica, Arctium minus, Aster tripolium, Centaurea nigra, Chrysanthemum
leucanthemum, Cichorium intybus, Cirsium arvense, C. vulgare, Cnicus
palustris, Crepis capillaris, Eupatorium cannabinum, Hypochoeris radicata,
Inula crithmoides, I. helenium, Leontodon autumnale, Picris echioides,