336 



Jlavescenlibus. Long. corp. i lin. 2|-. In domibus mense Augiislo et 

 Septenibre lonr/e frequentmiina^ parieles fenestrasque Jimo aspergens, ad cibas 

 concurrens poculaque prcegustans. 



Head before with a very pale yellow or whitish silky lustre, antennal 

 fovea and antennfe black; front slightly convex, but not prominent; eyes 

 reddish brown; in the male more approximated than in the female, and 

 with a linear black spot interposed ; female with the spot oval. Thorax 

 fuscous, with remote, black, curved bristles; above with five cinereous 

 lines. Scutel cinereous, blackish at the sides, and Avith remote black 

 bristles. Wings diaphanous, pale testaceous at base; nervures fuscous, 

 Winglets and poisers white. Legs black, and with black hairs. Abdomen, 

 in the male, honey yellow, diaphanous at base, blackish, and with long 

 black bristles at tip; a dorsal black line and the segments slightly edged 

 with black. Abdomen of the female cinereous, with a silky lustre, sides at 

 the base honey yellow; a dorsal line and an "interrupted one on each side, 

 black. 



This is our most common house fly, which must closely resemble the M. 

 domestica of Europe. The front in the living insect cannot be said to be 

 golden, the yellowish tinge is hardly perceptible. 



Musca familiaris Harr. mss. 



M. fronte prominulo, fulvo ; iJiorace scutelloque fulvo iomeniosis ; abdomirie 

 cinereo micante, tessellis marginibusque segmeniortim nigro-variantibus. Tem- 

 pore vernali et cest'wo in parietibus hospitatur. 



Head somewhat prominent in front, of a dirty yellow or tawny color 

 with a silky lustre, and distinct black bristles; eyes in the male connivent 

 above, in the female distant, with an interposed, oblong, black spot, furcate 

 above and below, antennaj blackish, with the articulations piceous or fer- 

 ruginous. Thorax black, covered with a close, dirty yellow or fulvous, 

 coarse pubescence, witli remote, curved, black bristles. Wings at the 

 articulations and extreme base, ferruginous. Winglets and poisers white. 

 Legs rusty black, with black hairs. Abdomen with distant, curved, black 

 bristles, in both sexes cinereous, with a silky lustre, each segment with two 

 quadrate black spots, and widely edged with black, varying in situation and 

 degree, according to the incidence of light. 



This species, not uncommon in houses in summer, nearly disappears when 

 the more abundant M. harpyia prevails. It resembles M. rudis Fabr., but 

 is larger than' the only specimen which I have seen, and has the thorax 

 much more densely clothed with fulvous hairs. From M. harpyia \t differs 

 in its superior size, in having the eyes contiguous in the male, in the prom- 

 inence of the front, in the hairiness of the thorax, etc. 



