EHAPHIOEHYNCHUS.— ACANTHOMERA. 67 



I have compared my specimens with the types in Berlin, in Vienna, and in Turin, as 

 well as with all the descriptions. The female in Vienna has the venter less dark than 

 mine. The expression in Bellardi's description, " palpis longiusculis " must be taken 

 in connection with his figure, which shows the palpi of a Rhaphiorhynchus. The 

 femoral spines, mentioned in the description, are omitted in the figure; they exist 

 nevertheless in the type specimen. 



Macquart's R. planiventris, male (in Mus. Paris), judging by the short description 

 and the bad figure, may not be the same species ; I do not recognize the stripes of the 

 thorax ; the intermediate and posterior legs are described as being brown, while in 

 R. planiventris, Wiedem., the posterior pair alone have that colour. 



There is no reason for considering R. crassipaljpis, Macq. (a female), as a distinct 

 species. The difference indicated in Bigot's table (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1881, p. 458)— 

 " tibias d'un jaune pale (planiventris) ; tibias posterieurs noiratres (crassipalpis) " — is 

 merely based on the fact that Wiedemann omitted (Aussereur. zwehi. Ins. i. p. 107) 

 to describe the hind tibia? ; but they are represented as dark on the figure (t. i. f. 4), 

 and described as such in Aussereur. zweifl. Ins. ii. p. 622. A female in the Berlin 

 Museum, agreeing with mine, is determined as R. crassipalpis, Macq. 



ACANTHOMERA. 



Acanthomera, Wiedemann, Dipt. Exot. p. 60 (1821). 



l. Acanthomera championi, sp. n. (Tab. III. fig. 16, $ .) 



Acanthomera picta (non Wiedem.), Bellardi, Saggio &c. i. p. 76\ 



Female. Thoracic dorsum showing a greyish-pollinose dorso-central stripe, with parallel sides, and a shining 

 spot in the middle (from abrasion of the pollen ?) ; the stripe is longitudinally bisected by a velvety 

 blackish-brown stripe, attenuated where it crosses the shining spot ; on each side the dorso-central stripe 

 is bounded by broad velvety-black stripes, broadest in front (where they reach the whitish pollinose humeral 

 callosity), gradually attenuating towards the scutellum ; the rest of the space between the thoracic suture 

 and the humerus is clothed with a greyish-brown pollen, and therefore opaque ; behind the thoracic suture 

 there is a shining chestnut-brown spot, oblong, nearly reaching the scutellum; the latter dark brown, 

 yellowish-pruinose at the base. Pleurae dark brown, beset with black hairs. Knob of the halteres brown, 

 the stem reddish. Abdomen black, shining : posterior and lateral margins of the segments velvety-black, 

 opaque ; the lateral edges of segments 3 and 4 are sharp, and beset with a dense fringe of black hairs • 

 segment 5 is abruptly narrower than the preceding, occupying about one quarter of its breadth; segments 

 6, 7, and 8 are each narrower than the preceding, forming a kind of ovipositor-like tail ; segment 8 is much 

 longer than broad ; segment 9 is very small, and ends in a pair of minute valvules ; venter black or dark 

 brown, with a brownish, velvety reflection. Legs black or dark brown ; hind femora linear, not incrassate, 

 and without spines, either subfemoral or terminal. Face and front velvety-black or brown, the latter with 

 parallel sides ; the breadth of the front is less than half, but more than one third of the distance between 

 the root of the antennae and the front ocellus ; lower part of the face reddish-brown in the middle, with a 

 slight gibbosity. Antennae dark brown ; third joint flattened, showing eight distinct subdivisions, the last 

 of which (homologous to the style of the male) is awl-shaped, pointed at the end, and nearly two thirds 

 as long as the seven preceding ones taken together. Wings infuscated, darker on the antero-proximal 

 portion, with yellowish spaces along some of the veins ; especially conspicuous is a large spot in the shape 

 of a jagged half cross-band between the anterior margin and the proximal end of the discal cell ; other 

 yellowish spots on the cross- veins at the base of the second, third, and fifth posterior cells, and on the 



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