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521. 

 PHTHIRIA PULICARIA. 



Order Diptera. Fam. Bombylidae, 



Type of the Genus, Bombylius pulicarius Mik. 



Phthiria Lat., Meig., Curt. — Bombylius Mik. — Volucella Fab., 

 Fall. 



AntenncR attached to the fore part of the head, short, porrected, 

 approximating and 4-jointed ; 2 basal joints producing a few 

 bristles, the 1st cup-shaped, the 2nd subglobose, 3rd large fusi- 

 form compressed and truncated, with a small sjiine at the apex, 

 above which is a minute ovate joint (3). 



Proboscis nearly twice as long as the head, porrected, inserted 

 in a cavity in the face (2). 



Labrum stout, slightly incurved, hollow, acuminated at the 

 apex (1 ^). 



Tongue as long as the labium, with a membranous margin, ex- 

 cept at the apex, which is excessively acute (c). 

 MaxillcB rather shorter than the labrum, slender, a little thick- 

 ened towards the apex (e). Palpi short, slender, slightly clavate 

 and pubescent (/). 



Labium longer than the labrum and equally stout, terminated 

 by 2 oval articulated lobes {g.) 

 Head as broad as the thorax in the male, and very hairy in front, a 

 little narrower and more depressed in the female, (2 the profile, 2 # 

 the crown) : eyes large and contiguous above in the male, remote in 

 the female : ocelli 3 in triangle at the back part of the head, very 

 minute. Thorax subquadrate, the angles rounded: scutellum rather 

 large and semiovate. Wings ample, and generally expanded, with 

 only one discoidal cell : halteres capitate. Abdomen short and sub- 

 ovate in the male, stouter and conical in the female. Legs slender : 

 thighs short, posterior a little the longest: tibiae slender and simple : 

 tarsi 7nuch longer than the tibia, simple and 5 -jointed, basal joint 

 very long, 2nd shorter, the remainder nearly of equal length : claws 

 and pulvUli very distinct (8, afore leg). 



PuLicARiA Mik., Meig. — nigra Meig. — pygmsea Fah. — campestris 

 Full. — Cinctum Curt. Guide, Gen. 1195. 1. 

 Male black, clothed with fine silvery hairs ; eyes red-chestnut ; 

 face and head beneath cinereous, thickly clothed before with long 

 hairs : thorax and scutellum cinereous, the former with the sides 

 and a stripe down the middle darker : wings iridescent, with 

 the costa a little tinged with yellowish brown, nervures piceous ; 

 halteres yellow, the club black. Female black, densely covered 

 with short depressed aureous-ochre hairs ; underside of head 

 yellowish, the hairs in front short and black, eyes darker, their 

 orbits yellowish ochre, a line on each side the thorax, and a 

 spot at the apex of the scutellum, as well as the halteres, of the 

 same colour. 



In the Author s and other Cabinets. 



