MAUSHALh.— On Neiv Zealand Dlptera. 251 



abundantly represented in this colony. This is the more re- 

 markable when one considers that all the Australian forms 

 hitherto described are included in four of these sub-sections. In 

 the majority of these divisions there are insects that differ 

 radically from any previously-established genera, and for these 

 new genera have been established, though with considerable 

 reluctance in one or two cases. The insects of this family 

 can easily be distinguished from all others by their strongly- 

 curved thorax, and legs armed with strong spurs, as well as by 

 the arrangement of the veins of the wings. They can be taken 

 very commonly on windows facing shady gardens at almost 

 any tune throughout the year. They are abundant in the 

 early sprmg, and at Lincoln a few stragglers will be found as 

 late as the middle of June. At Wanganui no less than ten 

 distinct species could be found as late as the middle of July, 

 and would doubtless be as numerous right through the winter! 

 In their native haunts they can be taken abundantly by 

 sweeping the undergrowth and ferns in all damp bush through- 

 out the summer and the greater part of winter. Though 

 usually small insects, one of our native sjDecies is more than 

 an inch in expanse of wings, and to a casual observer would 

 appear to belong to the Tipulida rather than to the Myce- 

 tophilida-. 



In the present paper I give descriptions of thirty-five 

 species, of which the majority belong to old-estabfished 

 genera. They are distributed as follows : Macrocera, 4 

 species ; Bolitophila, 1 ; Gcroplatus, 3 ; Platyura, 4 ; s'cio- 

 phila, 1 ■ Tetragoneiira, 1 ; Brachydicrania, 1 ; "Aphelomera, 1 ; 

 Mycetophila, 6. Of these genera, species of Macrocera, Gero- 

 platus, Platyura, Sciophila, and Mycetophila have been de- 

 scribed from Australia and the Old World. Species of Boli- 

 tophila and Tetragoneiira have been descrilied from the Old 

 World, but not from Australia; while the genera Heteropiterna 

 and Brachydicrania have been established for insects recently 

 described from Australia. Of the new genera established in 

 this paper, the first three belong to the sub-section Mi/ceto- 

 bmce, m which there were but three previously-existing 

 genera, containing but few species, all of which have been 

 described from the Old World, Australia, so far, not havin" 

 been shown to possess any. Two of the new genera are in 

 some respects highly peculiar, and without doubt form a very 

 interesting feature of the New Zealand Diptera. The other 

 new genera belong to well-represented sub-sections, and have 

 many characteristics in conunon with previously-described 

 genera, but, owing to the rigid manner in which the genera of 

 this family are described, and the slight variations that are 

 considered sufficient to justify their separation, they cannot 

 be placed m any of the old genera. Some of the genera here 



