250 Transactions. — Zoology. 



d. Second longitudinal vein. 



e. Third longitudinal vein. 

 /. Fourth longitudinal vein. 

 g. Fifth longitudinal vein. 

 h. Sixth longitudinal vein. 



i. Small or middle transverse vein. 



k. Hinder transverse vein. 



I, m, n, 0. Costal veins. 



p. Anterior basal transverse vein. 



q. Posterior basal transverse vein. 



r. Rudiment of a fourth trunk. 



s. Axillary incision. 



t. Anterior branch of third longitudinal. 



71. Anterior intercalary vein. 



V. Posterior intercalary vein. 



Akt. XXV. — New Zealand Dq^tera : No. 2. — Myceto- 



philidae. 



By P. Marshall, M.A., B.Sc, F.G.S., Lecturer on Natural 

 Science, Lincoln College. 



. [Read before the Philosophical Institute of Ganterburii, 5th June, 



1S95.^, 



Plates VIII.-XIII. 



In common with the other families of smaller flies, the 

 Mycetopliilidce have suffered sadly from neglect at the hands 

 of New Zealand entomologists. The only species hitherto 

 recorded as existing in this colony were described by Captain 

 Hutton ni the " Catalogue of the New Zealand Diptera." He 

 there gives descriptions of two species, one of w'hich he places 

 in the genus My cetophila, and the other in the genus Platyura. 

 The specimens from which Captain Hutton drew his descrip- 

 tions are fortunately still extant in the museum of Lincoln 

 Agricultural College, so I have lieen able to examine them ; 

 but I am unable to agree with Captain Hutton as to the place 

 he assigns them in the classitication of the Mycetopliilidce. 

 For reasons that will be given later on, I have deemed it 

 necessary to establish new genera for both these flies, as they 

 possess characters that certainly will not allow them to be 

 placed in any previously-described genera. So far as my 

 observations on the New Zealand representatives of this 

 family have gone, I have been struck with the great diversity 

 of type and structure that is exhibited by our species, for out 

 of seven sub-sections into which the family is divided six are 



