300 Phoridae. 



shining, with brownish pubescence. Mesopleiira with imiform rather 

 distinct bristles which are (at all events generally) placed nearly in a 

 single row. Abdomen black, very slightly greyish, dull; it has short 

 hairs, slightly longer at the hind margins of the segments, at the sides 

 they are a little longer, especially behind and on sixth segment they 

 are somewhat long at the sides. Hypopyginm small, black, it has no 

 strong bristle as in atripes, but has, however, small hairs on each 

 side among which one more conspicuous; below there is a large and 

 broad, triangularly pointed, yellowish, ventral plate with a curious, 

 protruding point on the left side; anal tube short, yellow with the 

 base blackish or almost quite yellow. Legs blackish or blackish brown, 

 the front legs paler; the hind femora have below the basal half a 



dense row of short hairs which at the 

 base are very dense, thus here forming 

 a distinct brush (fig. 94); this fringe 

 is longer and more conspicuous than 

 in atripes and much more dense at the 

 base; bristles on hind tibiæ small, but 

 Fig. 94. A.hirdcrus ^, hind ^ little larger than in atripes. Wings 

 femiir from the outside X 55. clear or nearly so, veins brown, thin 



veins paler; costa not reaching to the 

 middle, 1 about equal to 2 + 3 or a little longer; costal cilia long; 

 fourth vein somewhat evenly curved in the whole length, only a little 

 more in its first part. Halteres black. 



Female. Quite similar; costa sometimes a little longer; hind 

 femora with short, at the base a little denser hairs below. 

 Length. 1,5 to about 2 mm. 



This species is, as also remarked by Schmitz, very nearly related 

 to atripes, and still more similar to it than seen in Schmitz' description, 

 for atripes has similar hairs below hind femora, only shorter and not 

 forming a distinct brush at the base, and hirticrus has also a hair 

 on the sides of hypopygium, but much less strong than in atripes; 

 the males of the two species are, however, rather easily distinguished 

 by the two mentioned characters, and also the ventral plate is different 

 and the anal tube paler in hirticrus. The females are very difficult 

 to distinguish, hirticrus has generally clearer wings and paler front 

 legs and atripes seems to have the hairs below hind femora more dense 

 than hirticrus; I also fmd that in both sexes of hirticrus the arista 

 is a little longer pubescent than in atripes, and fmally hirticrus is 

 larger; but all these characters are not always sufficient so that females 



