EPIPHEAGMA. 9 



EPIPHRAGMA. 



Epiphragma, O. Sacken, Proc. Acad. Phil. 1859, p. 238 ; Monogr. &c. iv. p. 193. 



l. Epiphragma circinata, sp. n., <s . (Tab. I. fig. 1, wing.) 



Antennae of the male with elongated, almost linear, joints to the flagellum, clothed with a short and very dense 

 microscopic pubescence ; ocellar spots on the wings like those of the European E. picta, only the spotless 

 intervals existing in the latter are much smaller here. 



Length ( <$ ) 11-12 millim. 



Hob. Costa Rica, Irazu 6000 to 7000 feet {Rogers). 



Antennae brown, the first joint of the flagellum yellow; proportionally longer than 

 in the normal species of the genus ; bent backwards they would reach the end of the 

 second abdominal segment ; joints of the flagellum, except the first, long, linear, almost 

 imperceptibly incrassate at the base, where a few verticillate hairs are inserted ; the 

 dense, erect, microscopic pubescence begins with the second joint of the flagellum (it is 

 very probable, from analogy, that in the female the antennae are shorter, and without 

 microscopic pubescence). Head, including the rostrum and palpi, brown. Front very 

 narrow (only one third as wide as in E. picta, 6 ). Collar brown in front, brownish- 

 yellow posteriorly ; mesonotum reddish -brown, with a dark brown middle stripe 

 expanding into a triangle in front ; its sides, between the suture and the humerus, 

 brown ; metanotum and pleurae brown, mixed with yellowish, the latter distinctly 

 yellowish sericeous between the front and middle coxae ; halteres rather long, brown, 

 the tip of the knob pale. Abdomen linear (narrower than in E. picta\ brown, brownish- 

 yellow at the base ; hind margins of the segments yellowish, a yellowish transverse line 

 nearly in the middle of each segment (not all the segments show it distinctly). Coxae 

 yellow, the extreme base darker (the rest of the legs broken). Wings greyish, sub- 

 hyaline, with a dense pale brown pattern, the ocelli of which are arranged very much 

 like those of E. picta ; only the pupils of the ocelli on the distal half of the wing are 

 larger, and there is more brown around the ocellus having the base of the second 

 posterior cell for its centre, especially between it and the costa. Head, thorax, and 

 abdomen much less hairy than in E. picta. 



A single male. 



N.B. — The presence of the supernumerary subcostal cross- vein and the coloration of 

 the wings prove that this is an Epiphragma ; the ventral segment, preceding the male 

 forceps, is fornicate, just as it is in 23. picta. But this species differs from the normal 

 ones in the structure of the male antennae, which are longer, with more linear joints, 

 and with a microscopic pubescence. The venation is almost exactly like that of 

 E. picta (cf. Curtis, Brit. Entom., Dipt. t. 50, Limn, ocellaris). In E. solatrix 

 (O. Sack. Monogr. N. Am. Dipt. iv. t. 2. f. 8) the petiole of the first submarginal 

 cell is much shorter. The "transverse impressed line" on the abdominal segments 

 mentioned by me among the characters of the genus (I. c. p. 194) is represented here 



BIOL. CENTE.-AMEK., Dipt., July 1886. C 



