222 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Parasite : In a scale of L. Fletcher i I found three specimens of a 

 Chalcidid parasite. I have not identified the species (very likely it is 

 undescribed), but the following descriptive notes will probably suffice for 

 its recognition : — 



Head and thorax dark metallic green; abdomen brown, shovel-shaped ; 

 ovipositor just projecting. Eyes hairy. Antennae brown, with the two 

 joints before the club white. Tarsi 5-jointed, first joint of middle tarsus, 

 longer than 2 + 3 + 4, last longer than 3 + 4. Middle tibia with a very 

 stout, straight spur, but front tibiae with a smaller curved spur. Front 

 femora brown, with the end white ; middle femora whitish tinged with 

 brown ; hind femora all brown. Front tibiae brown, with the end white ; 

 middle tibiae white, with a brown cloud on proximal half; hind tibiae 

 brown, with both ends white. Tarsi all white. Wings hyaline ; stigmal 

 club bifid. A hairless line springs from near stigmal vein and proceeds 

 obliquely downwards and inwards. Three long hairs spring from a point 

 on the side of the abdomen. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE DIPTEROUS GENUS PSILOCEPHALA. 



BY D. W. COQUILLETT, LOS ANGELES, CAL. 



The following table contains all the species of Psilocephala known to 

 me as occurring in America, north of Mexico, with the addition of one 

 species from Jamaica, West Indies. The Jhereva crassicornis, Williston 

 (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, XIII., 293, non Bellardi), is a true Psilocephala ; 

 California specimens collected by Mr. O. T. Baron were submitted to me 

 by Mr. J. M. Aldrich, of Brookings, South Dakota, who kindly placed his 

 Therevidae at my disposal. The Thereva tergissa, Say, is also a Psiloce- 

 phala; specimens from Florida, the habitat of Say's original specimens, 

 were contained in a very interesting collection of Therevidae sent me by 

 Mr. C. W. Johnson, of Philadelphia, Pa., who had identified the specimens 

 in question as probably belonging to Say's species. As I cannot find that 

 Say's name had previously been used in this genus, I have adopted it in 

 preference to the later one, corusca, proposed by Wiedemann. Psiloce- 

 phala erythrura, Loew, is evidently a synonym of pictipen/iis, Wied. 



The Thereva nigra of Say, although placed in Psilocephala by Osten 

 Sacken (Catalogue of the described Diptera, page 95), is a true Thereva; 

 in his original description, Say distinctly says : " Hypostoma and all be- 

 neath with gray minute hair." I have a Ihereva from Southern California 

 which agrees in all respects with Say's description, and as other species 



