22 S. W. WILLISTON. M. 1). 



TARACTICUS. 



Loew, Centur. vul. ii, 240, 1S72. 



The spurs in this genus are very small, and were evidently overlooked 

 by Schiner when he placed the typical species under Dioctria. It does 

 not seem to me probable that Ceraturgns nrger Macquart can belong here. 



.",2. Taracticus octopiiiictatus. Plate II, figs. 2, 2a. 



Dioctria H-punctata Say, J. Aead. Phil, iii, 49 : Conipl. Wr. ii, (i3 ; Wiede- 



jnann Ausss. Zw. Ins. 1, 365 ; Sehiiier. Verb. Zool. Bot. Ges. 18(56. 675 ; ibid 



1867, 36!). 

 Taracticus oetopunrtatas Loew, Centur. vol. ii. 240; O. Sacken Cat. Dipt. 



2 Ed. 72. 

 J. — Face considerably longer than wide; antennae distinctly longer than the 

 bight of the head, first joint about once and a half the length of the second, third 

 joint more than twice the length of the first two together, slender, obtuse, the style 

 hardly distinguishably differentiated, on the upper surface a small bristle a little 

 beyond the middle. Dorsum of thorax with three yellowish lines, the middle one 

 straight. Abdomen shining black, with a small silvery spot on the posterior angles 

 of the second, third, fourth and fifth segments. Legs red, tip of hind tibiae 

 broadly and of middle tibiae narrowly, and tips of all the tarsal joints blackish. 

 Length 8 mm. 



33. Taracticus brevicornis n. sp. Plate II, fig. 3. 



'J, <^ . — Antennae short, about as long as the distance from antennae to oral 

 margin ; style distinct, acute, terminating in a microscopic bristle ; legs brownish 

 red. blackish toward the tips of tarsi ; abdomen shining black, with a white spot 

 on the posterior angles of the second, third, fourth and fifth segments. Length 

 7-9 mm. 



Front and face silvery white, the bristles on the oral margin, ocelli, and the 

 finer ones along the lateral margins of the front, black. Face broader than in 

 octopunctalus, being very nearly square, the distance from antennae to oral mar- 

 gin scarcely greater than that between the eyes. Antennae black, the first two 

 joints with black bristles below ; short, not as long as the hight of the head, first 

 joint a little longer than the second, third joint slender, not more than twice the 

 length of the first two taken together; style rather slender, not as long as the 

 second antennal joint, terminating in a mici-oscopic bristle. Dorsum of thorax 

 thickly covered with brownish ochraceous pollen, with two very indistinct darker, 

 brownish median stripes in front. Pleurae gray poUinose. Abdomen of equal 

 width, gently convex above, black, shining, lightly punctulate, the posterior 

 angles of the second, third, fourth and fifth segments with a small quadrate silvery 

 spot, the narrow anterior margins of the same segments less distinctly whitish 

 silvery. Legs brownish red, all the tarsi reddish brown, blackish at tlie tips. 

 Wings like those of T. octopunctatu.%, nearly pure hyaline. 



Two specimeii.s, Washiuiiton Territory. 



This species is, I believe, a Taracticus, although it has some of the 

 characters of Blacodes. In size and appearance it is strikingly like T. 

 octopunctatus, and with the exception of the head, the structure is almost 

 precisely the same, and the coloration nearly so. The head and antennae, 

 however, appear to be those of Blacodes or Nicocles. The small cross- 



