june-Sept., 1919.] Bezzi : Rhodesiella. 175 



Through the kindness of Mr. Chas. P. Alexander I have recently 

 received for examination the type of Rhodesiella tarsalis Ad., and 

 with the greatest interest I have noted that it is the same fly as 

 described by Prof, de Meijere under the name of Meroscinis scutcl- 

 lata (1908, p. 172), as collected in Java, near Semarang, also in the 

 month of January, by Mr. Jacobson. The fly has subsequently been 

 found in other localities of the Oriental Region, and has also been 

 recorded by Becker (1910, p. 432) from the Ethiopian Region. I 

 have, indeed, received it from Ghinda, Erythrsea, by Dr. Alb. Mochi. 

 The only difference is that the Rhodesian type-specimen has the 

 third antennal joint nearly black above, while usually it is entirely 

 yellow. 



The fly belongs to the family Chloropidse, subfamily Botanobiinse 

 (= Oscininse, = Oscinellinse, = Oscinosominffi). The family was 

 evidently mistaken by Adams on account of the rather developed 

 fronto-orbital bristles, which are also present in some other genera 

 of the Chloropidx, but they are inserted near the sides of an evident 

 frontal triangle. In the original diagnosis of this genus, Adams has 

 described, however, the apical spinous tubercles of the scutellum, a 

 feature which is eminently charactristic of the natural group of 

 flies to which the insect in reality belongs, while it is wanting in the 

 Agromyzidse and related groups. 



Spinous tubercles or spines on the scutellum are an uncommon 

 feature in the so-called acalyptrate flies. They are found only among 

 the Borboridse, in the genus Notacanthina, erected in 1835 by Mac- 

 quart for the Scatophaga bispinosa of Wiedemann; in the Thyreo- 

 phoridae; in some Heleomyzidae, such as Snillia oxyphora Mik; in 

 the Rhopalomeridse, chiefly in the genus Rhinotora Schiner ; in some 

 Ortalidse of the subfamily Platystominae, like the genus Peltacanthina 

 Enderlein; in the Diopsidse; but chiefly in the numerous forms of 

 the Chloropidae which are grouped around the cosmopolitan genus 

 Crassiseta. 



In his specific description Adams has, moreover, recorded (p. 198) 

 the deep angle formed by the fourth longitudinal vein at the hind 

 cross vein, a character which is well figured by de Meijere in his 

 original figure (PL IV, fig. 14). 



Since the type species of the genus Rhodesiella, R. tarsalis Adams, 

 1905, is the same insect as the type species of the genus Meroscinis, 



