60 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



[March 



A NEW DIPTEROUS FAMILY RELATED TO THE CHI- 



ROINOMIDAE. 



BY D. W. COQUILLETT, Washington, D. C. 



Among a very interesting collection of Diptera recently re- 

 ceived from Mr. C. W. Johnson for naming is a female speci- 

 men of a very singular fly, which I am unable to locate in any 

 known genus or family. The shape and structure of the head, 

 body and legs, and the unusual development of the first an- 

 tennal joint, appear to indicate its nearest approach to the 

 genus Ceratopogon of the family Chironomidce ; but the vena- 

 tionj as well as the general appearance of the insect, is very 

 different from anything now located in that family. The pat- 

 tern of venation is apparently a modification of that of a O/v/- 

 topof/ott, in which the third vein coalesces with the first and 

 the fourth vein is forked (see the figure by Winnertz in Lin 

 nre Entomologica, vol. VI, plate VI, figure 41). By a further 

 union of the veins, resulting in the coalescence of the median 

 portion of the first and fourth veins, and by the addition of a 



second fork to the fourth vein, the venation of the present 

 form would be produced. 



Although its relationship to the genus O/vr/o/>w/o;< is thu s 

 seen to be a rather intimate one, still the general aspect is 

 strikingly different ; besides the difference in venation already 

 ready referred to, the unusually long and narrow wings, the 

 widely separated eyes of the female, the concave instead of 

 strongly convex vertex of the head, unite in giving the new 

 form a very different appearance as compared to a ft'ntto- 

 pogon. The antennte, which are broken off at the tip of the 

 first joint in the single specimen before me, which, Mr. John- 

 son writes me, is the only one he succeeded in capturing, and 



