320 A. L. MELANDER. 



In as much as Mr. Coquillett has recognized " what is evidently 

 this species" it seems unjust to Mr. Bigot that "as the name Empis 

 cinerea is preoccupied for a European species, Bigot's description of 

 Efioplempis cinerea should be cancelled." It is better to adopt a 

 more general precedent, so hereafter the species may be known as 

 E. Bigoti. 



Empis inanca Coquillett. 

 Proc. Nat. Mus., 1895, p. 406. 



ilfft/e.^Head black, gray pollinose, eyes separated the width of the lowest 

 ocellus, facets of a uniform size; autenute black, third joint narrow, elonjiate, 

 style one-third as long as the third joint ; proboscis one and one-half times as long 

 as height of head, palpi yellow. Thorax black, opaque, gray pollinose, marked 

 with four black pollinose vittae, its sparse pile and bristles black; pleura black, 

 light gray pollinose, its pile black ; sciitellum black, gray pollinose, bearing four 

 black bristles. Abdomen dark brown, hind margin of each segment whitish, 

 opaque whitish pollinose, its pile or bristles along the hind margins of the seg- 

 ments long, black ; hypopygium yellowish brown, very large, erect, its pile 

 black; central filament very robust, arcuate, free except towards the apex, its 

 extreme tip dilated. Legs slender, yellow, including the coxae ; on the under 

 side of the hiud femora, before the apex, is a low swelling, in front of which is a 

 robust, backwardly directed hook, while between the apex of the femur and the 

 swelling on the inner side is a black, conical projection fringed near the base be- 

 hind, with one large and two small tooth-like projections; on the front and also 

 on the hind side of the hind tibiae near the base is a fringe of short black bristles, 

 below which, on the inner side of the tibia, is a conical projection, at which point 

 the tibia is rather suddenly bent outward ; hind metatarsi slightly thicker, but 

 shorter, than the front ones. Halteres yellow. Wings grayish hyaline, stigma 

 and veins brown, a long bristle on the costa near its base. 



Female. — Same as the male, except that the front is slightly broader, the abdo- 

 men blackish, light gray pollinose, and the hind legs simple, but much thicker 

 than the others. 4-5 mm. 



Southern California (Coquillett). 



Empis valentis Coquillett (Fig. 138). 

 Proc. Nat. Mus., 1895, p. 402. 



Female. — Differs from Empis comantis as follows: femora entirely yellowish, 

 apices of tibiae and whole of tarsi black, third antenna! joint twice as long as the 

 first, style less than one-half as long as the third joint. Pile of thorax sparse, 

 black ; on each end of the pleura, coxae, abdomen and venter, wholly black ; on 

 venter and on sides of abdomen very short and sparse. Scutellum destitute of 

 white pile, naked, except for the ten marginal bristles. Abdomen opaque, light 

 gray pollinose, hind margins of the fifth and sixth, and the following segments 

 wholly, shining. Femora not thickened, the hind ones scarcely thicker than 

 their tibiae ; pile and bristles of femora minute. Wings hyaline, anterior branch 

 of the third vein straight and nearly perpendicular. 9 mm. 



Northern California. 



