June, 1914.] Walton: Work of Daniel W. Coquillett. 161 



into " innocuous desuetude." Thus, the type specimen of his Myio- 

 phasia {Loezvia, Enyomma) globosa possesses a single weak, median 

 marginal bristle on the right side of the second abdominal segment. 

 This becomes a " marginal pair " of macroch?et?e in the original de- 

 scription. A most scrupulous examination of the type shows beyond 

 dispute that the opposite bristle never existed except in the imagina- 

 tion of the describer. Francis Walker and Robineau Desvoidy both 

 possessed this gift of ultra-microscopic vision. 



Mr. Townsend professes admiration for the work of Mr. Robineau 

 Desvoidy, but remarks^ that the writings of Mr. Coquillett " will all 

 have to be revised." So will mine and yours, dear reader. Let us 

 hope that posterity will deal more tenderly with it than has been the 

 fate of Robineau Desvoidy. 



On the other hand, Mr. Townsend has failed to see structures 

 which are not only visible but even prominent, providing the specimen 

 be carefully examined. For instance, in his genus^ Oestrogastcr 

 (Catalog number 15148, U. S. N. Mus.) he says, "No palpi," etc. 

 The type specimen bears a perfectly good pair of well developed 

 palpi, situated in the usual place on the proboscis. Or again he ap- 

 parently becomes suddenly color blind as in the case of Dcjcania 

 andina^ "Close to hradlicnsis Desv. and annata Wied. differs in 

 having no yellow whatever on the legs." Almost immediately below 

 this we read, " Legs wholly yellow ! " The type specimen of this 

 species is now in the possession of three pairs of ver}^ yellow legs 

 indeed. Evidently, this large and varied assortment of synonymy 

 in Mr. Coquillett's work has some basis in fact. 



It would seem that the possession of " that keen judgment of 

 character values and natural appreciation of phylogenetic relations," 

 cannot preserve even a " master zoologist " from palpable error when 

 he does take sufficient care to see what is visible. 



In the year 1891, Mr. Townsend began descriptive work in the 

 I^Iuscoidean flies.* It might be of interest to inquire as to what dis- 

 position has been made of the several species proposed in this first 



1 Insecutor Insc. Mens., Vol. i, p. 115, 1913. 



- Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Muscoidean flies from the 

 Andean and Pacific Coast Regions of South America, Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., 

 Vol. 43, p. 309. 



3 Loc. cit., Natl. Mus., Vol. 43, p. 333. 



4 Proc. Ent. Soc, Washington, Vol. 2, p. 134. 



