NO. 1935. MUSCOID FLIES FROM SOUTH AMERICA.— T0WN8END. 319 



• 



of the spinulee from ventral carina of female indicates that the carina 

 does not come into contact with skin of host during larviposition. 

 Moreover the female abdomen is laterally compressed and the ventral 

 carina is very salient and wedge-shaped, the ventral surface of the 

 abdomen being thus especially adapted to turn aside the long spines 

 of the host without injury to itself therefrom. 

 Type-species. — SpatJiimyia ferox, new species. 



SPATHIMYIA FEROX, new species. 



Length of body, 7 mm.; of wing, 6 mm.; of piercer, fully 3 mm., 

 which is same as length of abdomen. One female, in the montana of 

 the Rio Charape on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Oriental, 

 Province of Jaen, in northern Peru, about 5,000 feet, September 13, 

 1911, on foliage, 



Parafrontals, parafacials, cheeks, orbits, and vertical triangle faintly 

 brassy-cinereous pollinose, the facial plate including f acialia hardly at 

 all brassy. Occiput ashy, with whitish pile. Frontalia dark brown 

 or black, nearly equilateral, equaling the median width of one para- 

 frontal. Antennae brown, the third joint faintly grayish in some 

 lights. Palpi reddish-yellow. Pleurae, mesoscutum, scutellum, and 

 abdomen silvery-cinereous pollinose, with a more or less distinct 

 brassy shade; the mesoscutum with two very wide velvet-black 

 vittse uninterrupted at suture, scutellum blackish on base and disk; 

 tergum of first abdominal segment, a more or less distinct median line, 

 and posterior half of second, third, and fourth segments black. 

 Piercer polished black, larvipositor of a soft scarcely shining black. 

 Legs black, the femora faintly pollinose beneath. Claws moderately 

 short. Wings with a narrow smoky-yellowish infuscation along 

 costa. Tegulse whitish, with a yellowish tinge on borders. 



This fly represents an extreme specialization in the Compsilurine 

 group, far exceeding any form hitherto known in the development of 

 piercer and likewise of larvipositor. In token of its extremely 

 developed piercer, I have given it the generic name of sword-fly. 



Type.— Cat. No. 15157 U.S.N.M. 



PSEUDOMYOTHYIUA PERPLEXA Townsend. 



Pseudomyothyria perplexa Townsend, Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., vol. 4, 1911, p. 

 148.— TD 4001, 4035. 



Length of body, 3.75 to 4 mm. ; f f wing, 3 to 3.25 mm. Two males 

 and one female, Somate, in the Rio Chira Valley, Peru, November 18, 

 1910, on flowers of species of Telanthera; and one female, Piura, Peru, 

 April 17, 1911, on foliage. 



Black, cinereous pollinose. Frontalia and antennae blackish. 

 Palpi brownish-ye]low, darker basally. A verj^ faint brassy shade to 

 the pollen of parafrontals and parafacials, also to that of dorsal parts 



