18G AUSTRALIAN FLIES OF THE FAMILY ASILIDAE, 



A long series of Tasmanian specimens, collected by Mr. C. E. Cole, shows a 

 complete merging of Cabana rubrithorax Walker into C'abasa pulchella Macquart, 

 and establishes beyond dispute this long suspected synonymy. 



Hab. — Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. 



A specimen with semi-hyaline wings was taken at Blackheath, New South 

 Wales, on the 27th November, 1919. 



Subfamily ASILINAE. 



The outlines for the elassitication of Australian genera of the subfamily Asi- 

 I'niac were laid down by White in 1917. White's scheme offers the only practi- 

 cal solution for the present treatment of Australian species of the genus Neoitamus, 

 under which group he includes species placed previously in this and allied genera. 



White's scheme for the classification of the Asillnae is accepted here for the 

 genera. The subgenera of the genus Neoitamus, however, are not satisfactory, 

 and for further remarks see under the genus Neoitamus below. 



Ommatius pilosus White. 



Ommatius pilosus, White, Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas., 191G, p. 169. 

 Ommatius levis, White, ibid., p. 170. 



The holotype of 0. levis White is in the Australian Museum. A long series 

 of specimens shows that this form completely merges into O. pilosus White, and 

 therefore it cannot be considered distinct. 



Genus Neoitamus Osten-Sacken. 



Itamus, Loew, Lin. Ent., iv., 1849, p. 84 (preoccupied). 



Neoitamus, Osten-Sacken, Cat. Dipt. N. America, edit. 2, 1878, pp. 82, 235; 

 Ricardo, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), xi., 1913, p. 431; White, Proc. Roy. 

 Soc, Ta-s., 1913, p. 274; 191(j, p. 173; 1917, p. 91. 



Under the genus Neoitamus a number of diverse Australian species which 

 have a similar general appearance are grouped. The generic name is used for 

 convenience, and the species do not necessarily conform to the description of the 

 genus given by Loew. 



When structural characters of the described species are published, and a gen- 

 eral survey is made of the allied genera of the world, it will become possible to 

 give this group of Asilids an adequate treatment for generic and subgeneric divi- 

 sion. 



White proposed the three following subgenera: — Trichoitamus White (type, 

 Dysviaehus rudis Walk.), Neoitamus Loew (type, .Y. cyanurus Loew), and Rhab- 

 dotoitamus White (type, N. brunn<eus White). 



Neoitamus cyanurus Loew is a European species. 



The type species of Rhabdotoitamus was not fixed by White, but E. bnmneus 

 White {^= N. vittipes Macquart) conforms best to the subgenus as White describ- 

 ed it, and also it has the advantage of being widely distributed and common. 



In the present paper the species are dealt with as belonging to one genus 

 Neoitamus, so as to avoid the confusion that w<iuld otherwise arise, due to tlie 

 species being placed in arbitrary subgenera (hat have unsatisfactory or even no 

 structural differences; and, moreover, the collection shows a number of species 

 that could be divided into subgenera, or even genera, ujion apparently sound struc- 

 tural characters. It is premature, however, to subdivide the genus until adequate 

 study has been made of all the described forms. 



