DIPTERA. 309 



above synonymy is correct. The species is more especially characterized by the 

 V-shaped stripes on the face, seen better in an oblique light. It is very variable 

 in size. 



H. nitida was placed by Osten Sacken amongst the unidentified Mexican members 

 of the genus [antea, p. 171). 



DAMALIS. 



Damalis, Fabricius, Syst. Antl. p. 147 (1805). 



Chalcidimorpha, Westwood, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. iv. p. 684 (1835). 



The genus Damalis includes about twenty-five described species, from Africa, East 

 Indies, China, Philippine Islands, &c. Judging from the characters mentioned by 

 Wiedemann and Loew, the insect now added seems also to belong to it. I give, 

 however, the structural peculiarities of the Mexican species somewhat in detail. 



1. Damalis occidentalis, sp. n. (Tab. V. fig. 21, s .) 



<S 2 • Head broad, flat, nearly twice as wide as high. Front narrow, not more than one-seventh of the width 

 of the head, its sides straight and very slightly convergent above. Eyes twice as remote beneath as at 

 the vertex, the facets on the upper part larger. Face longitudinally convex, not at all visible in profile ; 

 on either side with a deep groove, as in the species of Leptidse, leaving the middle part strongly convex 

 transversely. Antenna? short ; first two joints of nearly equal length, about as long as broad ; third 

 joint flattened, nearly circular in outline, with a terminal slender arista. Thorax strongly convex above 

 longitudinally, the mesonotum in profile nearly semicircular. Abdomen not more than twice the length 

 of the thorax, depressed, oval ; male organs porrect, wholly exserted, composed of a short, thickened, 

 middle piece and a stout forcep on each side below, enclosing other, less visible parts ; ovipositor short, 

 spherical. Legs stout ; hind femora a little thickened distally, with some spinous bristles below distally 

 in the male ; hind tibia? straight ; hind metatarsi incrassate. Body wholly without bristles, save as 

 noted, and small short ones on the tarsal joints. Anal cell of the wings closed ; fourth posterior cell 

 closed or narrowly open ; first posterior cell open ; two submarginal cells. 

 Front yellowish-brown, opaque. Antenna? brown. Face yellowish-white, with sparse white hairs and a thin 

 white mystax. Occiput nearly white, with abundant white hair. Mesonotum wholly opaque, reddish- 

 yellow, with three broad black stripes ; the lateral margins whitish, the ground-colour of the humeri and 

 post-al'ar callosities red. Scutellum opaque white, with long white hair. Pile of the mesonotum erect, 

 abundant, moderately long, black ; that of the pleura? longer and whitish. Abdomen opaque brown, the 

 posterior margin of the first segment more broadly so laterally ; a spot on the sides of the second segment, 

 an arcuate band on the front part of the third segment (leaving a slender semioval spot of the ground- 

 colour), and the fourth and fifth segments, except the hind margin, silvery-grey, opaque. Legs piceous- 

 red, the hind pair lighter ; pile dark brown or black, except on the underside of the hind femora, where 

 it is white. Wings brown, darker in front proximally. Halteres large, light yellow. Length 7-8, of 

 the wings 8-9 millim. 

 Ha b. Mexico, Tepetlapa in Guerrero (E. H. Smith), Santiago Iscuintla in Jalisco 

 [Schumann). 



One male and two females. The fourth posterior cell in the male is closed in the 

 margin ; in one female it is only narrowly, and in the other widely, open. This 

 character is evidently variable and cannot be used specifically. Walker has doubtfully 

 referred a species from Brazil to this genus, D. (X) divisa (List &c. vii. p. 762). 



