Cjjc Canadian ^Entomologist. 



VOL. XVII. LONDON, ONT., JULY, 1885. No. 



NOTES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN 

 XYLOPHAGID.^ AND STRATIOMYID^. 



BY S. W. WILLISTON, M. D., PH. D., NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



Xy/opha^^HS dccorus, n. sp. 



% . Length 1 3 mm. Black, legs yellow. Front convex, but little 

 shining, thinly brownish dusted. Antennge black, the tip of first joint and 

 the second more reddish brown j elongate, the first joint rather longer 

 than the distance from the insertion to the ocelli. Proboscis black 

 Dorsum of thorax shining on the sides, in the middle with two broad 

 brownish pollinose stripes, separated by a shining linear space. Pleurae 

 shining black. Abdomen blackish brown, shining. Legs, including the 

 coxre, reddish yellow, the tips of all the tarsi black. Wings nearly hya- 

 line, a broad brownish band, near the middle, narrowed and evanescent 

 posteriorly, the outer cross-veins clouded and the outer part of the wing 

 cinereous. 



One specimen, Washington Territory (H. K. Morrison). The abdo- 

 men probably varies in depth of color. 



XylophagJts gracilis, n. sp. 



$, ^. Length 9-10 mm. Black, legs light yellow. Front grayish 

 dusted. Antemice black, the third joint toward the base on the inside, 

 yellowish; only a little longer than the head; first joint only about three 

 times as long as the second, considerably shorter than the distance from 

 the insertion to the ocelli. Thorax shining, the dorsum with two broad, 

 narrowly separated, pollinose stripes ; humeri and post-alar callosities ob- 

 scurely yellowish. Halteres yellow. Abdomen shining black, white 

 pubescent, rather slender and cylindrical in the male. Legs, including 

 the coxje, light yellow ; outer end of all the femora, and the tip of hind 

 tibiae, lightly brownish ; tip of the tarsi blackish. Wings hyaline, varie- 

 gated on the outer half with brownish, the stigma narrowly brown. 



