106 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



t o p o g o n. The name was first puiblislied bj Meigen as a manu- 

 script name of Megerle's, for a species belonging to the above- 

 mentioned group, a group characterized as having the flexor sur- 

 face of the fore femora spinose. 



Accordingly, and as Skuse (1889) has already stated, Pal- 

 pom y i a may be defined thus : Belongs to the group C e r a t o- 

 pogou; wings bare, with five radial cells, R, present; media 

 simple; some or all the femora spinose beneath; pulvilli and em- 

 podium wanting. 



Kieffer (1902) in his definition for the genus includes also those 

 species whose femora are without setae; but it seems to me that 

 Skuse's interpretation of the genus has the claim of priority^, 

 thus leaving Ceratolophus as a distinct genus and using 

 the name Palpomyia for those species having setose femora. 



Subgenus 1. Alasion rondani 



Dipt. Prodromus. 2:14. 1857. (=Apogon, Prodromus, 



1:175. 1856. Preoc.) 



In the analytical table A p o g o n is briefly described as fol- 

 lows: Femora, at least the anterior pair, spinose beneath; 

 antennae of the male verticillate with short hairs as in the 

 female. Spec. t3'p. ; Ceratopogon hortulanus Meigen. 

 On page 14, Prodr. II. '57, Rondani changes the name A p o g o n 

 to Alasion on account of preoccupation. 



C. hortulanus is made a synonym of C. f 1 a v i p e s by 

 later authors. These authors say nothing of the short-haired 

 antennae of the male, and it appears that there is perhaps some 

 error here on Rondani's part. The type species C. f 1 a v i p e s 

 is placed among the S e r r o m y i a by Bezzi. This seems un- 

 warranted since the hind femora are not thickened. In the table 

 given by KiefCer (1902) it would fall in the division with Pal- 

 pomyia. 



The name might stand as a subgeneric name as one of the 

 divisions of Palpomyia. It may then be defined as follows: 

 W'ings bare, Ro present, crossvein-like; media simple; some or all 

 the femora spinose beneath, not thickened; the soles (plantae) of 

 the feet hairy, not spinose; in this last character distinguished 

 from Sphaeromyas. Several American species. 



