200 D1PTEEA. 



3. Eraz maculatus. 



Erase maculatus, Macq. Dipt. Exot. i. 2, p. Ill, t. 9. f. 6; Schin. Vert. z.-b. Ges. Wien, 1867, 



p. 392 \ 

 Erax lateralis, Macq. 1. c. p. 116 ; Williston, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. xii. p. 70 (1885) \ 

 Erax ambiguus, Macq. I.e. Suppl. i. p. 84; O. Sacken, Catal. &c. 1878, p. 79. 

 Asilus interruptus, Macq. Hist. Nat. Ins., Dipt. i. p. 310. 

 Erax (Eristicus) villosus, Bellardi, Saggio &c. ii. p. 49 3 . 



Eab. Southern United States, Texas (Boll), Georgia and Florida 2 .— Mexico (Salle 3 ), 

 Northern Sonora (Morrison), Presidio (Forrer), Yucatan ; Guatemala, San Geronimo 

 (Champion). — Colombia ; Guiana ; Brazil 1 ; Antilles, Guadeloupe. 



The figure of the female given by Macquart, and the explanations of Schiner, render 

 the above synonymy very probable, Macquart's loose description and misleading outline 

 of the forceps of the male notwithstanding. Williston recognizes the same species in 

 E. lateralis, Macq., and there is nothing to object to in such an identification, although 

 it would seem strange that Macquart should have described the same species twice 

 within a few pages. There is little doubt, I think, that E. ambiguus, Macq., and 

 E. interruptus, Macq., are the same species ; the latter name in such a case would be 

 the earliest. I prefer to adopt the name which is justified by a distinct figure. I have 

 seen Prof. Bellardi's E. villosus and find in my notes that it is the same as E. maculatus, 

 although the description alone would leave me doubtful. 



Dr. Schiner has pointed out (I. c.) the differences between this species and E. striola, 

 Wiedem. As Wiedemann's original type is in Vienna, his opinion has great weight. 

 But that Wiedemann himself did not always distinguish both species is proved by a 

 specimen in the Berlin Museum labelled as Wiedemann's type of E. striola, and which 

 nevertheless is E. maculatus. E. maculatus seems to have an extensive area of distri- 

 bution, while E. striola, so far as known, occurs in South America only. 



Erax maculatus and E. striola form, within the genus, a natural group, distinguished 

 by the smallness of the male forceps and the structure of the ovipositor, which latter is 

 subcylindrical and flattened on the sides at the extreme tip only. 



4. Erax triton, sp. n., <? $ . 



Face yellowish-pollinose ; facial tubercle prominent, with a tuft of pale yellowish hairs and bristles : palpi 

 beset with black bristles, mixed with yellow ones ; cheeks with soft, whitish hair ; upper occipital orbit 

 with a row of stiff black bristles ; basal joints of the antennae reddish, the third joint darker ; arista 

 much longer than the third joint. Thorax with a well-marked, broad, dark brown dorso-central stripe, 

 its median line feebly marked, reddish ; sides of the dorsum yellowish, with slight brassy reflections ; 

 pleurse brownish-yellow, with soft pale hairs; scutellum yellowish-grey pollinose, with black macro- 

 chsetse. Halteres reddish-yellow. Abdomen, male : its prevailing colour an impure, somewhat silvery, 

 white, with a row of black triangles, the triangles gradually diminishing in size from segment 2 to 

 segment 5, segment 6 with only a brownish line in the middle ; segment 1 blackish, with some greyish 

 pollen on the sides ; forceps rather large, elongate, reddish-brown, beset with paler hairs and with a brush 

 of hairs on the underside, in shape like those of E. anomalus (cf. Bellardi's t. 2. f. 7); female: the 

 black triangles of nearly equal size on segments 2-4, occupying the whole middle of the segment and 



