130 INSECUTOR INSClTlit MENSTRUUS 



auratus and the distribution of the species now stands as follows : Can- 

 ada (Quebec), northern New York (Lancaster), Adirondack and Cats- 

 kill Mountains, New York, Franconia Mountains, New Hampshire, and 

 Black Mountains, North Carolina. 



A NEW EMPID FROM THE BLACK MOUNTAINS, 

 NORTH CAROLINA 



{Diptera, Empidids) 

 By WILLIAM BEUTENMULLER 



Rhamphomyia novecarolina, sp. nov. 



Mede : Head black, covered with grayish white pollen, eyes contigu- 

 ous, umber brown. Antennae black, third joint stout, gradually tapering 

 to the apex, style very small and thin. Palpi long, about twice as long 

 as the head. Thorax black, densely covered with grayish white pollen, 

 pile long, moderately abundant, and glistening whitish in color. Pleurae 

 blackish, pruinose. Scutellum same color as the thorax, zs are also the 

 bristles. Abdomen very densely covered with whitish pollen, completely 

 covering the black ground color, and contrasting with the thorax ; anal 

 appendages dark brown black. Legs brown with whitish hairs, meta- 

 tarsi pale, hind metatarsi swollen. Halteres sordid white. Wings milky 

 white with a pearly lustre, fourth longitudinal vein not abbreviated. 

 Length, 3 mm. 



Habitat : Summit of the Black Mountains, North Carolina. Altitude, 

 5,000-6,500 feet. 



This pretty little empid flies in swarms of several hundred or more in 

 the dense dark balsam forests which cover the summit of the mountciins. 

 It flies in places where the sun penetrates through the foliage and dances 

 merrily up and down or to and fro. With its white color, greatly con- 

 trasting with the surrounding dark forest, the swarms look like flakes of 

 fine snow. It may be easily taken and a single sweep of the net will 

 yield many specimens, all depending upon the size of the swarm. The 

 species comes in the group with umhilicata, soccata, etc., M'hich are 

 characteristic by their whitish wings, pale pubescence, large pulvits, etc. 

 The present species is distinct in having the fourth longitudinal vein not 

 abbreviated and the hind metatarsi swollen. The female does not differ 

 in color from the male. 



