<>l WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIX, 1917 123 



further and more reliable external characters, especially in the 

 case of the male, are discovered." Apparently all students of the 

 Tachinidae, including the author of Doryphorophaga, at the time 

 of erecting the same, have overlooked the fact that the males of 

 doryphorae possess two pairs of orbital bristles, as do the females. 

 This point together with other general external characters of 

 each sex appear to substantiate the validity of the genus, and 

 amply separate it from Neopales. 



Before the writer are 26 specimens (20 males and 6 feimales) of 

 D. doryphorae, taken in Massachusetts, Penikese Island, Conn., 

 New Jersey and Montana. Of these specimens, 20 males and 3 

 females show the presence of discal macrochaetae on the inter- 

 mediate abdominal segments, 1 and 3 females have them ab- 

 sent. Thus, it is plain that this character is a variable one; 

 within the limits of thfe species, as is also, the degree of the hairi- 

 ness of the eyes in the female, which may vary from moderately 

 hairy to almost absolute bareness.- As far as known, D. dory- 

 phorae is a common parasite -upon the potato beetle, Leptino- 

 tarsa decemlineata Say. Specimens from the western portion 

 of the United States appear identical in every respect with those 

 taken in the East. 



For the present it is desirable to include two other described 

 species under Doryphorophaga, namely, D. aberrans Townsend 2 

 and Exorista dorsalis Coq. 3 These species are evidently con- 

 generic, but as to whether they are congeneric with D. doryphorae 

 remains for further stud}' to determine. They differ in having the 

 facial ridges ciliate at most, on the lowest third, the ocellar 

 bristles vestigial (not wanting in any of the 13 specimens at 

 hand) and the abdominal chaetotaxy of aberrans and dorsalis in 

 relation to doryphorae, are in need of more extended investi- 

 gation. 



Following is a synopsis of the genus, as it now stands, together 

 with a detailed description of D. aberrans. The generic de- 

 scription is written under the tentative assumption, that all 

 three species herein included are congeneric. 



Diameter of head at vibrissae less than at base of antennae, vibrissae 

 usually placed on a level with the front edge of the oral margin, eyes hairy 

 (sometimes almost bare in females of doryphorae). Facial ridges bristly 

 on the lowest fourth to four-fifths, antennae nearly as long as the face, 



1 In several of the specimens discal macrochaetae an- pn^nit mi the 

 second abdominal segment ami absent on the third. These are included 

 in the number of specimens showing the presence of discal macrochaetae. 



2 D. aberrans Town., Ent . News, V<>1. \\YII, p. 217. 



3 Exorista dorsalis Coq., Camid. Ent., XXX, p. _>:;ii. 



