1881. j 55 



A NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF DILAR. 

 BY R. McLACHLAX, F.R.S., &c. 



At p. 39 of Vol. xvii of this Magazine (July, 18S0) I described 

 a species of the singular genus Dilar from South America. It is now 

 necessary to record the genus as North American, Dr. Hagen having 

 just forwarded to me one $ example (not in very good condition) taken 

 by Mr. Sanborn at Bee Spring, Kentucky, in June, 1874. The follow- 

 ing description is the best I am able to draw up, in the absence of 

 further materials of both sexes, and in better condition. 



Dilar americaxus, n. sp. 



Body whitish, with a faint yellowish tinge, clothed with whitish hairs, with 

 which a few blackish are intermingled. Face yellowish. Eyes metallic-silvery. On 

 the head above are three very large, somewhat closely placed, rounded-oval tubercles. 

 Antennse concoloi'ous with the body, apparently 17-jointed, the joints short, some- 

 what moniliform, not toothed internally at the apex, the terminal joint ovate. Legs 

 whitish, with white hairs ; the tips of the femora, tibia?, and tarsi testaceous ; claws 

 minute, simple, piceous. Apex of the abdomen forming an elongate pyriform opening, 

 in the middle of which are two large rounded, whitish, finely granulose tubercles 

 (extraneous bodies ?) : ovipositor longer than the entire body in the dry insect, 

 yellowish-white, semi-transparent, slender, slightly curved. Wings pale whitish- 

 hyaline, each with about twenty rather large greyish spots, some of which, in the 

 apical half of the wing, show a tendency to unite into fascia? : neuration pale, darker 

 in the spots, hairs long, whitish, but mixed with blackish, especially on the spots ; 

 sub-costal area almost without transverse nervules ; costal veinlets simple, with faint 

 indications of marginal rudiments between them ; principal sector with five branches 

 in both pairs ; transverse nervules very few, so that the neuration is remarkably 

 open ; a discal horny point between the 1st and 2nd branches of the sector ; nearly 

 all the apical and marginal nervures bi- or tri-furcate, with minute marginal 

 rudiments. 



$ . Length of body (without ovipositor), about 3 mm. ; length of ovipositor, 

 about 3| mm. Expanse of wings, about 14 mm. 



Viewed in the light of increased information, it is possible that 

 both this and the S. American D. Prestoni may eventually be separated 

 generically from the Old World forms ; but the materials are yet too 

 few. They are very small in size and pale in colour ; the structure of 

 the antennae in both sexes probably differs slightly : the neuration is 

 much more open, with only few transverse nervules, and there appears 

 to be only one (many-branched) sector of the radius, whereas in the 

 European and Eastern forms there is a simple (forked at the end) 

 sector emitted from the radius before the branched one that runs 

 parallel to it. 



Lewisham, London : June, 1881. 



