208 DIPTEEA. 



I have two male specimens before me; the species must be referred to "Eccritosia, 



Schiner. 



ASILUS. 



Asilus, Linnaeus, Fauna Suecica, 1761. 



1. Asilus chrysauges, sp. n., $ . 



Black; upperside of the abdomen golden-fulvous pollinose ; venter and sides of the abdomen black; legs black j 



wings infuscate ; ovipositor short. 

 Length about 28 millim. 



Hab. Guatemala, Panima in Vera Paz (Champion). 



Facial tubercle moderate, its upperside rising rather abruptly, the hairs and bristles 

 upon it black ; face and front black, the former with a brownish pollen on its sides. 

 Antenna black, the third joint gradually tapering beyond its middle and merging in the 

 bristle, the latter nearly as long as the joint itself. Thorax (somewhat injured) : the black 

 dorsum showing traces of golden-fulvous stripes of pollen ; a distinct stripe of such pollen 

 on each side, along the dorso-pleural suture, between the humerus and the post-alar 

 callosity ; a patch of similar pollen in front of the scutellum ; the latter fulvous-pollinose, 

 with fulvous hairs and bristles. Halteres brownish-red. The dark ground-colour of 

 the abdomen entirely concealed under a dense golden-fulvous pollen ; a close, short, 

 recumbent pubescence of the same colour visible (under the magnifying-glass) above 

 the pollen, the pubescence longer on the posterior margins of the segments ; longer 

 erect yellowish hairs on the sides of segments 1-3 ; a tuft of black bristles on each side 

 of the first segment. The eighth abdominal segment brownish, short ; beyond it is the 

 short black ovipositor. Ventral surface black, the black also encroaching on each side 

 upon the dorsal segments. Legs black, only the pulvilli of the usual reddish colour. 

 Wings rather uniformly infuscate ; with narrow subhyaline lines along the fourth vein 

 and its branches and along the fifth and sixth veins.— A single female. 



This species differs from the European A. crabroniformis and the North-American 

 A. sericeus in the structure of the ovipositor. In A. crabroniformis the eighth 

 abdominal segment is a narrow, elongate, horny cone, distinctly longer than the 

 preceding segment, smooth and shining, and at its end are the small valves of the 

 ovipositor ; in A. chrysauges the eighth abdom nal segment is short, pollinose, and 

 hairy, and therefore does not have the appearance of forming a part of the ovipositor, 

 which is thus represented by the small valves and the horny piece at their base only. 

 The venation is very like that of A. crabroniformis, the discal cell being long and 

 narrow, and the second posterior cell bulging out beyond it at the base. 



The bristles on the tarsi of A. chrysauges are remarkably strong ; a pair of them just 

 above the ungues form a conspicuous fork, which might be mistaken for the ungues 

 themselves, if the latter were removed. A similar structure exists in A. midas, but not 

 hi A, crabroniformis or A. sericeus. 



