90 /S. W. W'dliston — Dipterous Larvae, from Alkaline Lakes. 

 Ephydra Californica. 



? Ephydra Californica Packard, Am. Jour. Sci.. ."^d ser., vol. i, 103, 1871 (described in 

 the larval aud pupal stages only). 



$, $. Black, nearly opaque ; tliird Joint of antennae without lateral 

 pile, arista pubescent ; epistonia of female with numerous lateral 

 bristly hairs ; in the male nearly bare. Length 3^-3i^'"''\ 



Black, very slightly shining, nearly opaque, lightly cinereous poUi- 

 nose, on the face somewhat ochraceous, apparently the same in both 

 sexes. Front, except the lateral margins, shining, slightly greenish. 

 Antennae black, third joint bare, arista pubescent. Face with its 

 greatest convexity in the lower part, in the females the sides above 

 the oral margin with numerous long, black bristly hairs, in the male 

 the face is almost wholly bare, except some short hairs in the middle 

 above. Legs black, cinereous pollinose, the anterior and posterior 

 tarsi with golden pubescence on the under sides. Wings with a 

 grayish or blackish-gray tint, the veins black. Soda Lakes, Nevada. 



This sj^ecies must strikingly resemble E. subopaca Loew, from 

 Connecticut, and it is not impossible that it is the same. The larvse 

 of two undescribed species of this genus have been taken by Profes- 

 sor Verrill from the sea-water of New England. E. halophila Pack. 

 was bred from strong salt brine from salt works in Illinois. E. gra- 

 cilis Pack, was described from larvfe from the great Salt Lake, 

 Utah, wheie they also exist in great <piantitics. They will be readily 

 distinguished from E. Californica by their greater slenderness and 

 more elongate respiratory tube, which is two-thirds as long as the 

 body or more. 



Since writing tlie above I have had the pleasure of examining, 

 through the kindness of Prof. Riley and Dr. E. A. Barber, specimens 

 of another species of Ephydra, most pi-obably E. Jiians Say, sent by 

 Prof. Antonio Penafiel from Mexico. In a letter just received from 

 this gentleman, he says in regard to them : " Mosca que se encuentre 

 en las orillas del Lago de Tetscoco, y cuyns larvas en cantidades 

 verdaderemente asombrosas se desarrollan en luia agua niuy alcaline, 

 que contiene grandes cantidades de sesquicarbonata de sosa." 



