DIPTEROUS PARASITES. 1923 



Masicera archippivora Riley. PI. 89, fig. 18. 



Tachina archippivora Eiley, 3d Rep. Ins. Missouri, 150 (1871). 



Female.— FB.ce opaque gray; a row of moderate-sized bristles on the margin of the 

 central depression, reaching two-thirds or more of the distance to the base of the an- 

 tennae. Sides of the front opaque yellowish-gray, the ground color scarcely visible; 

 the median posteriorly bifurcated, dark reddish-brown stripe, narrower than the sides. 

 Bristles of the front normal, that is, arranged as in Exorista futilis, hirsuta, etc. 

 Palpi yellow. Eyes bare. Antennae black, the basal half of the third joint, and more 

 or less of the second, red or reddish ; third joint from five to six times the length of the 

 second ; arista thickened for half of its length or more. Dorsum of thorax rather 

 densely gray pollinose, with a yellowish cast, leaving four black stripes, the median 

 two of which are slender, and abbreviated posteriorly. Scutellum gray pollinose, the 

 tip yellowish red; bristles normal (three on each lateral margin, an apical pair, and a 

 dorsal pair) , stout, the apical pair approximated and small. Abdomen black, short, 

 thickly gray pollinose, variable in different reflections ; second segment with a posterior 

 pair of bristles, no median bristles on this and the next segment ; the general covering 

 of short bristles well differentiated from the long bristles. Legs black. Wings grayish 

 hyaline; tegulae white. Length, 5-6 mm. 



Three specimens, bred from larvae of Anosia piexippus (Dr. Dimmock, 

 L. 50.5). A male specimen, from Dr. Riley, bearing the label : " From 

 larvae of Papilio, Greeley, Colo., July 31, 77," I cannot distinguish 

 in the absence of other male specimens. The third antennal joint is more 

 elongate and wholly black, and the pulvilli are not elongate. 



[Dr. Dimmock's specimens came out of the nearly full grown larva of 

 Anosia on July 20, pupated July 23, and the imagos appeared August 2-3.] 



The above description is based upon specimens in a good state of pres- 

 ervation, but I am not at all sure that they are the same as the type of the 

 species. Five specimens from Professor Riley, apparently including the 

 originally described specimens, present certain differences that at first led 

 me to deem them distinct. In most, the frontal stripe is narrow, as in the 

 described specimens, but, in one ( 9 ) it is cL'stinctly broader than the 

 sides of the front ; the third antennal joint, furthermore, seems more 

 rounded upon the posterior inferior angle, giving it a more pointed appear- 

 ance. In all these specimens the side of the abdomen is more or less red. 

 In size they vary not a little, some being distinctly larger, others distinctly 

 smaller than the ones described. I suspect that they all pertain to one 

 species, but further and careful observation is needed to remove the doubt. 



Masicera frenchii, n. sp. PI. 89, fig. 23. 



Male, female. — Closely allied to M. archippivora, but distinguishable at once by the 

 elongate pulvilli of the male. The antennae are broader, and wholly black ; the frontal 

 stripe is fully as broad as, or broader than, the sides. The facial depression is broader, 

 and the color of both face and front more distinctly yellow. The grayish pollinose 

 stripes on the shining blue-black mesonotum are less dense, as is also the grayish 

 covering of the abdomen. The abdomen has no red on its sides. Length, 6.7 mm. 



Five specimens, bred from Jasoniades glaucus, November 26, 1881. 

 Moosehead Lake, Me. (S. H. Scudder). 



