Empididae. • 261 



could only see four joints; the basal joints are short, the third joint 

 also short, somewhat compressed, it tapers on the dorsal side near 

 the apex into a short process which bears a long, straight, unjointed 

 arista ^ Epistoma is very small ; the jowls do not descend below the eyes. 

 Proboscis is short, stretched downwards and a little inwards, and 

 the apex is curved a little inwards; there are one-jointed, compressed 

 maxillary palpi, with strong bristles at the apex, but for the rest I 

 have not been able to examine the mouth parts more particularly; 

 probably they resemble those in Drapetis. Thorax is rectangular, but 

 only slightly elongated and not much arched above; pro- and meta- 

 thorax small. There are no bristles on the disc, but a posthumeral 

 and a pair of notopleural bristles. Scutellum has two marginal bristles. 

 Metapleura pruinose, but without hairs. Abdomen short and robust; 

 I think it consists of eight segments, but in the male they are not to 

 be counted. The male genitalia form a small forceps. In the female 

 eight abdominal segments are visible, and abdomen is pointed. The 

 legs are short; the front femora strongly thickened; the middle tibiæ 

 are relatively short, considerably shorter than the femora. The legs 

 are short-haired and with a few bristles ; the tibiæ without apical spurs. 

 There are two claws, two pulvilli and a very small empodium. The 

 wings narrow, the subcostal vein very short, the radial vein termina- 



Fig. 119. Wing of S. graminum. 



ting before the middle of the wing; the cubital vein unforked, thus 

 one cubital cell; the discai vein likewise unforked, thus three posterior 

 cells; no discai cell; the lower branch of the postical vein wanting 

 and no anal vein present; first basal cell short and narrow, second 

 longer and much broader. No stigma. Axillary lobe somewhat devel- 

 oped. No alula. Alar squamula very small, a little fringed at the 

 margin. 



The developmental stages are not known. 



^ It will thus be seen, as also shown by tig. IIS, that the arista is not in reality 

 dorsal, but seen with a lens it looks so, because the process from the third 

 joint is then taken to be the basal part of the arista, and also because the 

 hairs on the lower side of the third joint seem to form part of the joint; in 

 reality there is only a slight difference between the facts here and in D. ater- 

 rima, while in setigera the arista is more distinctly terminal. 



