HOVER-FLIES IN ESSEX
101
X. xanthocnema Collin
VC 18, 19. An uncommon species, not recognised as distinct until 1939.
Ingatestone, Mill Green, 14 July 1963 (E. H. Moss, det. R. M. P.); Peldon,
Copthall Grove, a male on sunlit ash foliage 16 June 1972 (P. J. Chandler).
X. segnis L. 9 May-10 October
VC 18, 19. A very common species, usually noticed basking or running
about on leaves, particularly at margins of woods.
X. nemorum F.
VC 18, 19. Rare in Essex. Included by Harwood in his 1903 list, but there
are no pre-1903 specimens in BM or HD; Colchester High Woods, 29 July
1916 (B. S. Harwood, in HD); Epping Forest, 19 May 1940 (LP), 8 July
1947 (C. O. Hammond); Hadleigh Downs, by woodland track 10 June
1972 (P. J. Chandler).
Brachypalpus bimaculatus Macq.
VC 18. I have never seen this fine and very rare insect, which in Essex
has only been found in Epping Forest, and not at all for the past fifty
years. There is a male in HD, taken in the Forest by Philip Harwood on
12 May 1912. Then in 1922 the species was seen again by F. B. Jennings
of Walthamstow, who wrote of his experience as follows (1929):'. . . June
6th 1922, while resting in the shade of a large oak in Epping Forest, I
became aware of a persistent humming noise ... a Syrphid fly, which was
hovering round, and occasionally settling on, the trunk ... a week later
I . . . took another specimen in the same manner.'
Criorhina asilica Fln.
VC 18, 19. Colchester, 1898-1909 (Harwood, in HD). The Harwood
diaries refer to one specimen taken in the High Woods on 27 May 1908.
I took a female feeding at Hawthorn flowers at Danbury, Backwarden
Reserve, on 22 May 1970.
C. floccosa Mg.
VC 18, 19. The Harwood series of this species in BM and HD taken at
Colchester span the years 1896-June 1922. The only recent record is of a
male taken on Apple blossom in my garden at Westcliff on 12 May 1973.
C. berberina F.
VC 18, 19. Colchester 1898, 1901 (Harwood, in HD); Epping, 12 May
1912 (Harwood diaries, in HD); Epping Lower Forest, 2 July 1951
(A. W. Jones).
C. berberina var. oxyacanthae Mg.
VC 18, 19. Colchester, 1898-1905 (Harwood, in HD); Epping Forest
6 July 1946 (C. O. Hammond).
Pocota personata Harris
VC 18, 19. There is a Harwood specimen in HD taken in Colchester