&6 Annuls of tlie tioitt/t African Mti 



other backwards. Face broad, with a white tomeutum on the sides 

 and below, and with white hairs and a few black ones in the centre of 

 the sides ; genae with white hairs underneath ; antennae entirely 

 black, the basal joint with black hairs, the third joint long, narrow 

 and pointed as in laticeps, but the upper ciliae seem to be caducous. 



Proboscis entirely black, 3'5-4 mm. long ; palpi not visible und 

 seemingly less developed than is usual. Thorax and scutellum entirely 

 black, with yellow pubescence, pale yellowish hairs and strong black 

 bristles, which are numerous before the root of the wings and at the 

 hind border of the scutellum ; pleurae and breast with white hairs ; 

 metapleuraltuft well developed. Squamae pale yellowish, with a dark 

 border showing short black bristly hairs and a white fringe of moderate 

 length. Halteres Avith blackish stalk and whitish knob. Abdomen 

 entirely black ; it is clothed with long white pubescence and has some 

 black hairs at the base of the segments on the sides ; very character- 

 istic are the narrow bauds of silvery tomentum on the hind border of 

 the segments from the 2nd to the 6th ; on the hind border of the 

 segments there are besides complete rows of very strong and numerous 

 black bristles ; there is no trace of the white longitudinal stripe of 

 hitlce^s ; venter black and blade haired, with a broad white transverse 

 band in the middle; male genitalia black and black haired. Legs 

 entirely I (lack, with dark yellowish tibiae and basal joints of tarsi; 

 in the female only they are white-scaled on the femora and the tibiae, 

 but those of the hind pair have black scales on the apical half of the 

 femora and the tibiae ; the coxae and the 4 anterior femora are white- 

 pilose near the base ; all the spines are black, those of the tibiae well 

 developed even on the front pair ; middle femora with 4-5, hind 

 femora with 10-12 spines below ; claws black, with narrowly yellow 

 base; pulvilli dark, as long as the claws. Wings greyish-h} aline, 

 pale yellowish at base, with the black basal spot less developed ; they 

 have the typical venation of laticeps, with this exception, that in both 

 sexes the first posterior cell has a very short stalk, being extended 

 almost to the hind border, as in the genus SisyropJianus. Alula 

 hyaline, whitish fringed ; praealar hook strong, of a deep black colour ; 

 basal comb small, black, vellow tomentose ; veins dark, yellow at base, 

 especially the auxiliary and the sixth ; base of the first and of sixth 

 vein with a broad yellow pubescence. 



DISCHISTUS, Loew (1855). 



Tlie present genus is rich in species provided with important char- 

 acters. It can be divided in groups, like those of the genus Bombyliii*. 

 Of these groups, only two are characteristic of the South African 







