SYNOPSIS OF NORTH A3IERICAN SYEPHID^. 181 



111 specimeiis illy preserved the yellow pile markings of the abdomen 

 or thorax may be wholly rubbed off, leaving only indistinct whitish spots 

 in their place. The second segment may also show an elongate reddish 

 spot on each side near the middle. 



Pteroptila decora. 



rteroptila decora Loew, Ccntur., vi, 59. 



Habitat. — Cuba ! 



^ , 9 . Length, 9 to 12'"'". Black. Head of the same color, post^^rior 

 orbits thickly fringed with yellow pile, or tomentum. Front yellow pi- 

 lose ; vertex, and median stripe black. Antennae ferruginous ; third 

 joint short ovate, above blackish. Face thickly clothed with white pol- 

 len and yellow pile, leaving a median shining black stripe; cheeks 

 broadly shining black, except the posterior part. Dorsum of thorax 

 with nine yellow spots as follows : Two on the front margin, four on the 

 transverse suture, and three sub-coalescent ones on the posterior mar- 

 gin. Scutellum reddish or reddish-black, black at the base. Abdomen 

 with six yellow spots, namely, two subarcuate ones on the first seg- 

 ment, and two larger ones on the anterior angles of the third and fourth 

 segments. Hypopygium brown. Legs luteous, or browuish-lureous; 

 outer part of the hind femora subfuscous or fuscous, the extreme tip, 

 however, always lighter colored; last three or four joints of all the 

 tarsi black. Wings hyaline, brown on the front part; as far as the tip 

 of the auxiliary vein the color is more yellowish, the costal cell espe- 

 cially so. 



Two specimens. 



Pteroptila ruficrus. 



Mile>i>a ruficrus Wiedemann, Auss. Zw. Ins., ii, 105, 3. 



Habitat. — Cuba ! 



5 , $ . Length, 12 to 13°»'". Brownish-yellowish, the dorsum of tho- 

 rax blackish brown. Vertical triangle of male elongate. Stripe of 

 front and face shining brownish-yellow, the pile on the sides and pos- 

 terior (ubits light yellow ; cheeks like the facial stripe. Antenna? yel- 

 low, the tliird joint somewhat brownish. Yellow pilose markings of 

 the thorax as in P. crucigera-, that is, with two anterior spots, an in- 

 terrupted sntnral cross-band, and three sub-coalescent spots on tlie hind 

 border. Scuitellum yellowisli-brown. Abdomen with a pair of coales- 

 cent, arcuate, yellow pilose spots on the first segment, a slender, nearly 

 contiguous, pair on the anterior border of the third segment, and a 

 smaller pair on the sides of the fourth ; second, third, and fourth seg- 

 ments each with a slender yellow hind margin ; in color the abdomen is 

 dark ferruginous or yellowish-red. Leffs yellow, or somewhat reddish- 

 yellow, the hind femora, except the basal portion and tip, reddish or 

 brownish-red. Wings light-brown on the anterior part, hyaline behind; 

 on the basal portion the brown is much more dilute or yellowish, the 

 costal cell light yellow. 



