192 BULLETIN ,31, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



tibiaB and the last four joints of hind tarsi black, the base of bind 

 tibiae and their metatarsi more brown ; elsewhere the legs are reddish 

 yellow, lighter on the front and middle pairs. Hind coxae of the male 

 with a long stout obtnse process below, the hind femora below near the 

 base with a slight protuberance, hind tibiae with a sharp spur at the 

 tip; all wanting in the female. Wings lightly tinged with brownish. 



This description is based on twelve males and nearly as many females 

 that I caught about the blossoms of Cornus paniculata in the latter part 

 of June, in Connecticut. From the color of the legs and feet and head 

 I do not doubt but that it is Wiedemann's species; he must have been, 

 however, mistaken in the sex of his specimen ; he does not mention 

 the process on the hind coxae. In the female there is but a slight indi- 

 cation of this process, but his description of " rost gelb " will not apply. 



Helophilus distinctus, u. sp. 



Habitat. — Connecticut, Virginia, Pennsylvania! 



^ , 9 . Length, 7.5 to 10™™. Very closely allied to H. chrysostomus 

 Wied., but easily distinguished in the male by the absence of the mammi- 

 form process on the hind coxae below, and in the female by the black 

 dorsal thoracic stripes being considerably narrower than the interven- 

 ing gray ones; the middle black stripe may be dilated in front by a 

 grayish line. The face in the male is less yellow, in the female the 

 ground color is almost wholly black. The antennae are darker in color, 

 the first two joints blackish. The black stripes on the dorsum of the 

 thorax are narrower ; in the female very narrow ; in the female the pol- 

 linose spots on the third and fourth segments of the abdomen are a 

 little broader and a little more widely separated. In the male on the hind 

 coxae below there is a small obtuse projection, similar to that of the fe- 

 male of S. chrysostomus ; in the female they are rounded below; the 

 spur on the end of the hind tibiae is less acute. The species is, more- 

 over, smaller in size. 



Four specimens, two of each sex, from Connecticut. The species I 

 found common on a meadow near New Haven, but, unfortunately, not 

 recognizing it as distinct from H. chrysostomus, I neglected to collect a 

 greater number of specimens. The color of the face not being " vergol- 

 det " and the antennae darker, not " rost gelb," I do not think that this 

 can be Wiedemann's species. 



Helophilus modestus, n. sp. (Plate VIII, fig. 4.) 

 Habitat. — Wyoming ! 



S ,9 . Lenj^th, G to 8 """. Front in both sexes broad, narrowed but lit 

 tie in the male, the ocelli not remote from each other ; black, with a 

 broad band of yellowish pollen across the middle, pile chiefly blackish. 

 Antennae black, the arista of the same color. Face deeply concave 

 below the antennae, a little below the middle with a large protuberant 

 tubercle, between which and the mouth receding and gently concave ; 



