AN EXTRAORDINARY NEW MARITIME FLY. 



VERNON L. KELLOGG. 



THERE have been established recently two new 1 families of 

 flies, to which I have to add a third. In the case of two of these 

 three new families the members show great divergence from 

 the usual dipterous condition. The three genera of Wandol- 

 leck's new family, Stethopathidae, are wingless and are without 

 halteres. The thorax is greatly reduced and the compound 

 eyes are feebly developed. The mouth-parts are of the general 

 sort possessed by the Nematocera, i.e., a short lip-like labium 

 without pseudo-tracheae, a distinct labrum, and a hypopharynx, 

 but no mandibles nor maxillar lobes. Coquillet's new family, 

 the Stenoxenidae, established for a single female fly, presents 

 no such extraordinary characters as the Stethopathidae. " The 

 shape and structure of the head, body, and legs, and the unusual 

 development of the first antenrial joint appear to indicate its 

 nearest approach to the genus Ceratopogon of the family Chiro- 

 .nomidae ; but the venation as well as the general appearance of 

 the insect is very different from anything now located in that 

 family" (Coquillet). 



There has come into my hands a number of specimens, 153 

 in all, of a fly which must prove of unusual interest to zoolo- 

 gists and entomologists, both because of its peculiar habitat and 

 of its extraordinary structural condition. This new fly can cer- 

 tainly not be ascribed to any known dipterous family ; its affini- 

 ties can only be determined in the most general way. I feel 

 constrained to establish for it a new family, which may be called 

 the Eretmopteridae. 



The 153 specimens of the new form, 139 males and 13 

 females, and i female pupa, were collected on Dec. 27, 1898, 



1 Wandolleck, Bruno, " Die Stethopathidae, eine neue Dipteren-Eamilie," Zool. 

 Jahrb. Bd. xi, pp. 412-441, Pis. XXV and XXVI. 1898. 



Coquillet, D. W., " A New Dipterous Family Related to the Chironomidae," 

 Ent. A'ews. Vol. x, pp. 60 and 61 (figure). March, 1899. 



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