148 DIPTEKA. 



of the female " tumid," rather than " slightly tumid." The size of the specimens varies 

 from 7 to 11 millim. The knob of the halteres is mor# infuscated in this species than 

 in its allies. 



5. [Aphoebantus cervinus, 2 . 



Aphcebantus cervinus, Loew, Centur. x. no. 39. 

 Bab. North America, Texas (J. Boll). 



This species has much stronger macrochsetae on the scutellum and on the pree- and 

 post-alar callosities than any of its congeners. The long spinule noticed by Loew at the 

 end of the hind metatarsus exists in many of the allied species (see above, the gene- 

 ralities on Aphoebantus). The male is as yet unknown.] 



6. [Aphcebantus conurus, sp. n., <? . s** g^^ 



Face and front clothed with a yellowish- white erect pile, under which the greyish ground-colour, with an occa- 

 sional silvery reflection, is perceptible. Antennae black : the style of the third joint about as long as the 

 incrassate basal portiou ; terminal bristle comparatively large. Body greyish-black, clothed with an 

 appressed yellowish-fulvous tomentum ; the rounded posterior edge of the scutel, except a small spot in the 

 middle, glabrous, black, shining, beset with a number of rather conspicuous black macrochaetae ; similar 

 macrochEetse, black or reddish, on the prae- and post-alar callosities ; a number of black bristles in front of 

 the scutellum ; pleurae grey, clothed with white, scale-like, appressed hairs ; a tuft of whitish erect pile 

 between the root of the wing and the humerus. Abdomen subconical, slightly coarctate in the middle, 

 showing, besides the comparatively dense, appressed, yellowish-fulvous tomentum, rows of rather long, black, 

 erect bristles along the posterior margins of the segments, beginning with the second ; tip of the abdomen 

 but little incrassate ; the last ventral segment, enclosing the forceps, placed obliquely, end upwards 

 (only the upper portion of the forceps, longitudinally bisected, is visible), black, reddish at the tip. Hal- 

 teres more or less brownish. Legs black ; densely clothed with scales, silvery on the femora, more yellowish 

 on the tibise ; knees reddish ; posterior tibiae beset with spinules, the hind femora, on the outside, also 

 showing a series of four or five. "Wings hyaline from the very base ; third vein with a stump. 



Length 7-8 millim. 



Sab. North America, Kern Co., California (Williston). Two males. 



This species will be easily distinguished from its congeners by the shape of its forceps, 

 and the rows of black bristles along the hind margins of the abdominal segments. In the 

 shape of the abdomen and of the forceps it somewhat approaches the genus Epacmus.] 



7. Aphoebantus bisulcus, sp. n., $ . 



Greyish-black ; thorax with a short appressed jjolden^ tomentum on the dorsum ; pleurae grey, with white 

 hairs ; scutellum deeply bisected, as if consisting of two rounded, black, shining protuberances, the 

 groove between the latter, as well as the base, beset with a yellowish tomentum ; macrochaetae on 

 the scutellum of moderate length and strength, black, those on the sides of the thorax reddish or 

 brown. Abdomen with a white tomentum at the base, and with a tuft of longer white hair on each 

 side of it ; the following segments clothed on their anterior part with an ochre-coloured tomentum, on 

 their distal half with a similar, but much less dense, white one ; on the last segments the ochreous tomentum 

 prevailing. Femora black, with silvery scales ; tibiae yellowish-red, the tarsi brownish ; posterior tibiae 

 beset on the upperside with five or six long, delicate spinules ; a few spinules also near the end of the 

 hind femora, on the underside. Halteres yellow. Wings hyaline ; third vein with a rudiment of a stump. 



