185 



DESCRIPTIONS OF AUSTRALIAN FLIES OF THE FAMILY ASILIDAE, 

 [Diptera] with synonyms AND NOTES. 



By G. H. Hardy. 



In this paper synonyms are recorded, and two new species of the genus Xeoi- 

 tamus are described. Other species of the g-enus Neoitamus are given a l)etter 

 taxonomic treatment than has hitherto been attempted. 



Australian species of the family Asilidae were revised by Miss Ricardo in 

 1912-13, but a number of descriptions were left outstanding, as the types were 

 either missing or net in a condition suitable for recognition. Since then, consid- 

 erable attention has been given to the Tasmanian Asilidae, chiefly by the late 

 Arthur White, and as Tasmania is the type locality of much of the described 

 material, it has become possible to establish the identity of many of the out- 

 standing descriptions of species recorded from there. 



Sydney is also an important type locality, but the Asilidae of this district re- 

 quire further attention and a number of common species have yet to be described. 

 Only a few of the i utstanding descriptions of species recorded from this locality, 

 and from New South Wales generally, have been identified. 



Considerable further knowledge, accumulated since Miss Ricardo's work, re- 

 quires to be incorporated with a new revision founded upon a better taxonomic 

 treatment of the species. 



I am indebted to Dr. E. AV. Ferguson for the loan of his collection of the 

 genus Neoitamus. which contains many specimens identified by Miss Ricardo and 

 Arthur White. 



Subfamily DASYPOGONINAE. 



Cabasa pulchella Macquart. 



Dasypogon pukhellus, Macquart, Dipt. Exot., suppl. 1, 1846, p. (j2, PI. 7, fig. 9 



(wing) . 

 Cabasa pulchella, Walker, List Dipt. Brit. Mus., vi., suppl. 2, 185-1, p. 499; 



Ricardo, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), ix., 1912, p. 479; White, Proc. Roy. 



Soc. Tas., 1916, p. 155. 

 Dasypogon veniio. Walker, List Dipt. Brit. Mus., ii., 1849, p. 359. 

 Cabasa venno, Walker, List Dipt. Brit. Mus., vi., suppl. 2, 1854, p. 500. 

 Cabasa rufithorax. Walker, Ins. Saund. Dipt., i., 1850, p. 100, PI. iii., fig. 5; 



Walker, List Dipt. Brit. Mus., vi., suppl. 2, 1854, p. 499. 

 Dasypogon rubrithorax, Macquart, Dipt. Exot.. suppl. 4, 1850, p. 66, PI. vi., 



fig. 10. 

 Cabasa rubrithorax Ricardo, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), ix., 1912, p. 480; Wliite, 



Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas., 1916, p. "155. 

 Synonymy. — Miss Ricardo has identified Cabasa rufithorax Walker with 

 Cabasa pulchella Macquart, and also Cabasa venno Walker with Cabasa rubri- 

 thorax Macquart. All the types are described from Tasmania. 



