OF WASHINGTON. 265 



In my Revision of the Empidce, page 397, attention was called 

 to the fact that Enoplempis cincrea Bigot belongs to the 

 genus Empis, and that as the name Empls cinerea is preoccu 

 pied, Bigot's insufficient description had better be cancelled. 

 Mr. Melander. however,* takes the opposite course, anpl pro 

 poses the name Empis bigoti for the above species, thus adding 

 another synonym to our already long list, since what is almost 

 certainly the same species was described by the writer in his 

 Revision, under the name of Empis manca, new species. The 

 giving of new names to very imperfectly described species will 

 hardly commend itself to students except in case that a more 

 perfect description is added from the type or other authentic 

 specimen. 



Mr. Melander's statementf that my original description of 

 Empis pellucida depends on that of E. virgata is erroneous, as 

 any student can ascertain by turning to that description. J The 

 latter is complete in itself, and contains no reference to the de 

 scription of virgiita* or any other species. 



Platypalpus trivialis Loevv has wholly yellow femora and 

 tibiae in both sexes ; the U. S. National Museum possesses a series 

 of specimens of both sexes from each of the following localities: 

 White Mountains, New Hampshire; Beverly, Massachusetts; 

 Las Vegas Hot Springs, New Mexico, and Colorado. 



Tachydromia inusta Melander, T. corticalis Melander and 7. 

 brachialis Melander belong to Tachypeza. On the other hand, 

 Tachypeza pusilla Loew belongs to Tachydromia. Tachypeza 

 cluvipes Loew, T. rapax Loew, T. rostrata Loew and T. 

 ivinthemi Zetterstedt, all belong to Tachypeza, as originally 

 referred. Tachypeza rapax Loew is evidently a synonym of 

 Sicus fenestratus Say ; I know of no other species in this group 

 which has the front coxae marked with black, as mentioned by 

 Say, a character peculiar to the male, the female having the front 

 coxae and femora unspotted, and closely resembling rostrata, 

 from which it may easily be distinguished by the yellow hind 

 tibiae with only their apices brown or black. 



Drapctis medetera Melander belongs to Elaphropeza, as is 

 evident from the greatly elongated third antennal joint. Drapetis 

 ftavida Williston belongs to Tachvdromia, as already stated in 

 my paper on the Diptera of Porto Rico ; not only are the front 

 femora considerably thickened, but those of the male bear several 

 spinous bristles on the under side. 



Tachydromia nubifera Coquillett belongs to the recently 

 erected genus Coloboneura. 



* Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., xxvm, p. 319. 



t Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., xxvm. p. 313. 



I Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., n. p. 408. 



$ Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xxn, 251, May 12, 1900. 



