462 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 43. 



APHIOCH.ffiTA ALETI.ffi Comstock. 



Yellow; frons black-brown, paler in front, with yellowish rather 

 thick pubescence anteriorly and centrally, lower post-antennal 

 bristles not half as large as upper pair; antennse brown, arista w^ith 

 distinct pale pubescence; palpi yellow; thorax yellow, sometimes 

 reddish tinted, scutellum \\,ith two strong bristles and two pale hair- 

 like bristles anterior to them, less distinct in the male; abdomen with 

 the dorsum sometimes entirely brown except the narrow hind- 

 marginal yellow bands, and sometimes with lateral spots carried 

 across in a more or less narrow band posteriorly, vaiying in intensity 

 from reddish brown to black; legs yellow, apices of hind femora 

 brownish, basal half of hind femora with a series of curved hairs, hind 

 tibial setuhe very fine, only those on apical half strong; wings clear, 

 neuration as in table but the male generally has the first section 

 comparatively longer and the second and third more nearly equal in 

 length than the female; halteres yellow. 



Length, 1-2 mm. 



This species was originally described by Comstock in the Report 

 on Cotton Insects, 1879. It was then considered as a parasite on 

 Aletia argillacea (the cotton worm), but this has since been proven 

 a mistake. As already stated, Brues gave aleti-v, as a synon3^ra for 

 nigriceps in his monograph on the Phoridae, but an examination of a 

 number of Comstock's original specimens still in the Museum has 

 shown that it is not that species, and the figure given with the 

 original description, while not what one might desire, is sufficiently 

 clear to show that it is a distinct species from that figured by Brues. 

 The original specimens are labeled August 27, 1879, and stood in the 

 collection labeled by Coquillett nigriceps Loew. I have no other 

 course than to reinstate this species as it is already shown distinct 

 from nigriceps, being in fact much nearer to fungicola Coquillett than 

 to any other species and possibly this is the species referred to by 

 Brues a,s fungicola var. with pale halteres. Reared fromaZei^m pupae 

 (Comstock). I have also seen a specimen reared from garbage by 

 Professor Johannsen (Ithaca, New York.) 



APHIOCH^TA CONICA, new species. 



Plate 36, figs. 5, 6, 11. 



Female. — Yellow; frons brownish toward vertex, ocellar triangle 

 broad but very short, frontal suture distinct, bristles moderately 

 strong, only two post-antennal bristles, central pair of bristles in 

 front row very wide apart and placed low down at near the lateral 

 angles of frons, nearly in line with post-antennal pair, and but 

 little farther from eye margin than outer bristles above them, the 

 second row of bristles almost equidistant from each other and nearly 

 in a straight line, antennae yellowish, third Joint nearly round, arista 



