Excerpt from Diptera, Vol. 3: Pipunculidae, Syrphidae, Conopidae, OEstridae The present volume, although compiled in India, has been to a considerable extentrewritten since my return to London. Access to the British Museum collection has enabled me to include 11 number of additional species, to redescribe many of Walker's species, and to effect some important alterations in synonymy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Hoverflies of the subfamily Microdontinae have a reputation for causing confusion. The adult flies differ so much from other hoverflies that according to some they should be placed in a family of their own. Their diversity in shape and size is astonishing: from large, furry-haired species and convincing wasp-mimics to tiny, unsightly creatures, easily mistaken for something uninteresting. This paper introduces a new generic classification of the Microdontinae. A key to all 43 genera, 7 subgenera and some species groups is presented. All 552 available species names are classified into (sub)genera and species groups. The resulting classification comprises 454 valid species and 98 synonyms, of which 17 valid names and three synonyms are left unplaced. A total number of 26 new species are described, 267 new combinations of species and genera are proposed. The paper concludes with a discussion on diagnostic characters of Microdontinae.

"Zoological Record is published annually in separate sections. The first of these is Comprehensive Zoology, followed by sections recording a year's literature relating to a Phylum or Class of the Animal Kingdom. The final section contains the new genera and subgenera indexed in the volume." Each section of a volume lists the sections of that volume.

This Is The First Comprehensive Work On The Indian Pipunculids After Brunetti'S In 1923. The Importance Of These Flies As Biocontrol Agents Of Homopteran Pests, Especially Those Of Rice, Is Being Greatly Felt Now. Since The Fauna Of These Flies Was Very Poorly Known In India, The Flies Were Never Tried For Such Purpose. The Present Work Which Includes 91 Species From India Under 6 Genera Will Not Only Enable Workers To Identify The Desired Spe¬Cies For Their Proper Manipulation As Biocontrol Agents But Also Be Useful In Discovering More And More Pipunculid Species.