GRAPTOMYZA. 135 



3rd vein not looped downward into 1st posterior cell ; 4tli vein 

 distinctly recurrent at tip, ending some distance from wing-border ; 

 anterior cross-vein before middle of discal cell. 



The VoLUCELLiN.E are large, handsome flies with the appearance 

 of bees or wasps. Their larva? feed on the dead or diseased larvae 

 and pupge in the nests of social Hymenoptera. One common 

 European species, Volucelhi homhylans, L., perfectly mimics two 

 common humble bees (Bomlms) of quite different appearance, and 

 occasional specimens resemble other species of Bombus*. 



The group is essentially a tropical one, the species of the East 

 being even surpassed in size by those of Central America and the 

 adjacent regions. The subfamily seems to be a natural one. In 

 one genus {Graj^tomj/za) the spurious vein is absent, an almost 

 unique instance in the family, and some authors have desired to 

 remove the genus on that account, but its natural position is 

 undoubtedly here. 



Table of Genera. 



Marginal cell closed (vena spuria present ; [p- 144. 



4th vein strongly recm-rent at tip) Volucella, Geoffr., 



Marginal cell open. 



Vena spuria absent ; apical portion of 4th 



vein strongly divergent from wing-border ; 



body short, stout, abdomen rounded or [p. 135. 



shortly ovate Graptomyza, Wied., 



Vena spuria present; apical portion of 4th 



vein mainly parallel with wing-border, but 



just appreciably recurrent at tip; body 



more elongate ; whole facies like that of [p- 153, 



Chilosia Enuoiasimyia, Big, 



Genus GRAPTOMYZA, Wied. 

 Graptomyza, Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifi. ii, p. 206 (1830). 



Gexottpe, 6r. vcntralis, Wied., the first species; by present 

 designation. 



Head as broad as or broader than thorax, transverse ; epistome 

 produced as a conspicuous snout, projecting diagonally down- 

 wards, varying in length in different species ; proboscis elongate, 

 thin, bifid at tip. Antennaj with 1st and 2nd joints small, 3rd 

 very elongate, three or four times longer than deep, porrect or 

 somewhat drooping, compressed, arista practically or absolutely 

 bare or conspicuously plumose. Thorax sliort, subquadrate with 

 rounded corners ; humeri with posterior calli generally very dis- 

 tinct, softly pubescent but witli a distinct chietotaxy, generally 

 consisting of one or two presutural bristles, three supra-alar or 

 post-alar, two or three on posterior calli, two notopleural and a 

 row on hind margin of dorsum; also scutelhun with side margin 



* The several species and varieties of Volucella are not, however, always 

 found in the nests of tlie particular species of Hymenoptera which they respec- 

 tively resemble. See Lundbeck, Dipt. Danica, v, p. 400 (1916). 



