﻿98 Annals of the South African Museum. 



the allied species, being 1| times as long as the two fii-st joints together ; 

 it is very gibbose at its upper border and shows there 2-3 liristly hairs ; 

 at the end it is almost bifurcated, having above a thick and pro- 

 portionally long style, and below a point with a tuft of hairs. 

 Proboscis thin, black, gently curved downwards, 22 mm. long ; palpi 

 very thin and long, black, with scattered short hairs below. Thorax 

 and scutellum deep black, dull, everywhere clothed with long, soft, 

 white hairs, without distinct bristles ; the pleurae are hairy only on 

 nieso- and pteropleurae. Squauiulae quite white, with scai'ce and short 

 marginal hairs of the same colour ; haltères pale yellowish. Abdomen 

 of conical shape, coloured and clothed like the thorax ; venter more 

 grey dusted ; genitalia with the lamellae reddish at the hind border. 

 Legs entirely black, with yellowish knees ; the 4 front tibiae are 

 clothed with a dense, scaly, greyish dust ; all the femora with long 

 whitish hairs ; only the middle tibiae with some very short spicules at 

 the hind side. Wings whitish hyaline, with yellowish stigma ; veins 

 black, with yellowish base. Second longitudinal vein straight ; cubital 

 fork proportionally short and widely open at end ; middle cross-vein 

 placed near the last third of the discoidal cell, which is of greater size 

 and broadly obtuse at end ; first posterior cell broadly open, liroader 

 than the 3rd, but less broad than the 2nd ; terminal stalk of anal cell 

 rather long. 



The female is like the male ; the broad frons is black, convex and 

 somewhat shiny above the antennae. 



Phthiria pubescens, Bezzi. 



Closely allied to the preceding species, but distinct by the shorter 

 and yellowish pubescence, by the shorter and less gibbose third 

 antennal joint which has a much shorter and thin terminal style ; 

 besides, the wings are not whitish. The cubital fork is much longer ; 

 the middle ci'oss-vein is placed near the middle of the discoidal cell, 

 and the 3rd posterior cell is more narrowed at end. 



Described by me from Willowmore, Cape Colony, in my paper on 

 the Bombyliidae of the Museum of Budapest, there is a denuded 

 female specimen from the Transvaal, Junction Crocodile and Marico 

 Rivers, February, 1918 (R. Tucker). 



GERON, Meigen. 



Even this genus seems to be very numerous in South Africa, being 

 represented in the collection by no less than 5 species. It is interesting 



