102 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



hairs. Antennae bicolored, scape black, flagellum pale testaceous, except 

 ing a black tip to the flattened last joint; mandibles black; outer tooth 

 long and sharp; tegula; blue with a large fuscous spot; wings hyaline, 

 nervures and stigma black; legs very stout, front and middle pairs blue- 

 black with fuscous tarsi, hind pair brownish-black, tarsi fuscous, hind 

 femora swollen at base, hind tibiae very large, greatly swollen in the mid 

 dle beneath, first hind tarsal joint swollen at base, tibial spurs large and 

 black; sixth dorsal abdominal segment entire, not broadly rounded, 

 seventh segment deeply bidentate ; first ventral segment with a longitud 

 inal central apical carina, testaceous in color, second segment with a tes 

 taceous strongly produced finger-like process, remainder of segment pol 

 ished and blue. 



Hab. Dalles, Oregon (collection W. H. Asbmead). 



Type. No. 6859, 0. S. National Museum. 



Tbis can be readily separated from A. odontogaster (Ckll.), by 

 the antenna?, larger size, more strongly produced legs, and deeper 

 color. In A. odontogaster there is a fine longitudinal groove on 

 the second ventral segment which ends on the finger-like process, 

 causing it to appear bifid at the tip ; the first segment has no lon 

 gitudinal carina. 



Mr. Benton exhibited a photograph from life, published in 

 a recent number of an apicultural journal* labeled " Bees work 

 ing on Chrysanthemums." An examination of the picture showed 

 him that the tc bees," so-called, are in reality drone flies (Eris- 

 talis tenax}. It is well-known that these Syrphid flies have a 

 habit of visiting chrysanthemums to feed upon the pollen, and 

 this fly has been credited with effecting, to a greater or less de 

 gree, the fertilization of these blossoms. The plan of introduc 

 ing it into countries where chrysanthemums do not seed has been 

 seriously discussed. Drone flies have frequently been mistaken 

 for bees. At the famous Utter trialf Mr. Benton, who was a 

 witness for the National Bee-Keepers' Association, brought with 

 him a small case of insects containing workers, queens and drones 

 of Apis mcllifcra and a number of drone flies. This case, when 

 passed around, revealed the fact that the prosecution were unable 

 to distinguish drone flies from bees with certainty, and therefore 

 unable to prove positively that bees were the cause of the alleged 

 damage. Even some of the skilled bee-keepers, to whom the 



*The American Bee-Keeper, xiv, No. 3, p. 52, March, 1904. 

 f Described in Gleanings in Bee Culture for 1900 and H;OI. 



