DESCRIPTIONS OF HORSEFLIES FROM MIDDLE 



AMERICA. I.* 



James S. Hike. 



During the continuance of my studies of North American 

 Tabanidae more or less material has come to hand from southern 

 localities. Panama and the northern parts of South America 

 are of interest as showing the southern limits of distribution of 

 many of the North American species. 



Previous to the writing of this paper much time was con- 

 sumed reading and studying descriptions of species of Tabanus 

 of older authors in an attempt to identify such species as I have 

 had in hand but only partial success has attended my efforts. 

 There has accumulated, with what has been received from the 

 United States National Museum and the Philadelphia Academy 

 of Natural Sciences a number of rather obscure species mostly 

 of small size for which descriptions are given in the following 

 pages. 



I have followed with interest the work of Dr. Adolpho Lutz 

 on the horseflies of Brazil and am not unacquainted with his 

 generic treatment of the subfamily Tabaninae. At first it was 

 the intention to arrange my species in genera according to his 

 arrangement but it is evident that if the whole North and 

 South American horsefly fauna is to be harmonized with it 

 more genera will have to be erected, for I found among my 

 material species that do not fit in any so far established. As 

 it does not seem advisable to describe new genera to receive such 

 species until a more comprehensive consideration of the whole 

 fauna is attempted, I have concluded with some reluctance, to 

 consider everything in the genus Tabanus in the wide sense. 



Since an oversight has allowed a preoccupied name to stand 

 in literature for a number of years, it seems to be advisable to 

 offer the following new generic name: 



Stichocera, new name, to take the place of Dicrania and 

 Dicranomyia, both of which are names for the same genus. 

 Macquart proposed Dicrania in 1834, but it is antedated by 

 Dicrania in the order Coleoptera 1825. Hunter recognizing this 

 fact in 1900 proposed Dicranomyia to replace it, in Transactions 



* Contribution from Department of Zoology and Entomology, Ohio State 

 University,. No. 60. 



185 



