ASTKOPHASTES.— LEPLDANTHBAX. 107 



bifurcation of the second and third veins, and the second vein, at the bifurcation, has 

 the regular knee-shaped bend; the antennae are distinct at the base, and the male 

 forceps withdrawn within the abdomen in an unsymmetrical position — characters which 

 belong to Anthrax and not to Lomatia. Again, the colour of the body, and especially 

 of the abdomen, of A. adonis reminds us of some Argyramcebce, but the absence of pul- 

 villi, the not-bisected antennal style, which ends in a microscopic bristle and not in a 

 brush of hairs, constitute abundant differences. 



The face of A. adonis is gently convex, not conically projecting ; the proboscis with- 

 drawn ; the lips comparatively fleshy ; the antennae have very short basal joints, the third 

 joint is so very short-conical as to be almost disciform and its slightly tapering style 

 rises abruptly in the middle ; the front legs have smooth tibiae and distinct joints of the 

 tarsi ; the occiput is much less developed here than in most species of Anthrax ; the 

 macrochaetae on the prae- and post-alar callosities are weak ; the contact of the fourth 

 posterior cell with the discal is comparatively long (nearly twice as long as the posterior 

 cross-vein), and the anal cell is closed (it is open in most species of Anthrax). 



l. Astrophanes adonis, sp. n., s $ . 



Male. Ground-colour black; abdomen with the distal half densely clothed with recumbent silvery hairs, 

 which begin on the latter half of the fourth segment and form a dense and comparatively long fringe 

 round the apex ; the long, dense, soft and erect hairs on the thorax, in an oblique light, have a whitish 

 reflection ; a tuft of hair behind the humerus and above the root of the wing is snow-white ; face and 

 front black, with black erect pile ; traces of silvery spots on the sides of the face and of the front, spots 

 which are much more distinct in the female ; antenna black ; lower occipital orbit with some silvery 

 scales, the upper one with a fringe of black hair. Legs dark brown. Wings hyaline, the veins brownish- 

 yellow. Knob of the halteres ivory-white. 



Female. Pace and front black, shining ; on the face a spot of silvery scales on each side, about the middle of 

 the facial orbit ; a pair of similar, but larger, silvery spots on the front, immediately above the antennae, 

 and again another pair about the middle of the distance between the antennas and vertex ; occipital orbit 

 beset with silvery scales. Thorax, as in the male, with a tuft of white hairs on each side between the 

 humerus and the root of the wing ; a whitish collar of hair in front, and a very scarce, microscopic, whitish 

 (somewhat iridescent) tomentum on the dorsal surface. Abdomen with a cross-band of white appressed 

 hair on the anterior half of the second segment ; a tuft of white hairs on each side of the first and second 

 segments, and a covering of orichalceous scales on the last three segments (the abdomen of my only speci- 

 men is somewhat greasy, and I describe it as far as I see it). Legs black. Halteres with an ivory- 

 white knob. "Wings as in the male. 



Length of both sexes 4-5 millim. 



Sab. Mexico, Northern Sonora (Morrison). 

 I have but a single specimen of each sex. 



LEPID ANTHRAX, gen. nov. 



Antennas widely separated at the base, inserted quite near the orbits ; third joint short, onion-shaped, with a long 

 filiform style, undivided by a suture, and with a microscopic bristle at the tip. Pront comparatively broad 

 in both sexes. Proboscis considerably prolonged beyond the oral margin, slender. Pront tibiae with a series 

 of distinct spinules on the upperside ; front tarsi varying in structure, stout or slender, always with 



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