F. R. COLE 3 



History of the Family 



Meigen in his ''Klassification" first designated this group of 

 Diptera. There has been much difference of opinion as to the 

 correct name of the family, but it appears to me that the term 

 Cyrtidae has the best claims for its adoption; Cyrtus is the oldest 

 genus, having been described by Latreille in 1796. The name 

 Acroceridae Leach (in Somouelles Compendium) is a very widely 

 used term. Newman in 1841 used the term Cyrtites. Walker, in 

 his "Revision of the Acroceridae,"- gives a list of fourteen names 

 which have been used for this family: Acroceridae Leach; Acro- 

 cerides Leach; Bomhyliarii, p. Lam.; Aplocera, p. Dumeril; 

 Inflatae Latr.; Inflata Meig.; Stratiomyidae, p. Rafinesq.; Cyrtites 

 Newman; Ogcodina Rond.; Inflata (Henopii) Agassiz; Acrocer- 

 inae Zett., and Cijrtidii Bigot., instead Kertesz in his "Katalog" 

 (1909) used Oncodidae. The term C>Ttidae means hump-backed, 

 -yv a good fo^aX characterization of the family. Acroceridae (from 

 afcros-summit and A-era.s-horn) is derived from the character of the 

 insertion of the antennae on the vertex, which is not a universal 

 character by any means. Henopidae comes from a word meaning 

 "one-eyed," and was used by Erichson in his "Monograph" of 

 tha family in 1840, after the name had been given up by others. 



The family is remarkable for the singularly swollen body, 

 especially the abdomen, and Latreille gave it the name of Vesic- 

 ulosa for that reason. Meigen in 1822 (102), called the species 

 of Henops "Mundhornfliege." Wiedemann in his "Aussereu- 

 ropaische Zweifliigelege Insecten," in 1830, gave them the name 

 "Feistfliegen," literally fat flies. Latreille maintained that the 

 name Henops should be changed to Ogcodes (better Oncodes). 

 Meigen, in 1822 (102), gave the first synopsis of the family under 

 the name Inflatae. He gave a generic description of Cyrtus, but 

 stated that he could not give a general survey of the family be- 

 cause he was familiar with only one species — gihbus. He gave the 

 main characters of Acrocera, enumerating five species, and men- 

 tioning that all were rare and that he had never collected any. 

 The next important paper on the Cyrtidae was by Wiedemann 

 in 1830 (lfj6), who used the name Inflatae. Thefe were four 

 species of Cyrtus enumerated, two species of Acrocera (including 

 A.fasciata from Georgia), one species of Philopota from Brazil 



2 List-Supplement, part II, p. 331, 1854. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XLV. 



