REVISION OF THE TACHINID.E OP AMERICA 

 NORTH OF MEXICO. 



NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE WORK. 



The present paper is the result of several years' study, and is based 

 upon the lariie series of specimens contained in the National Museuiu 

 collection, mainly received from this office, supplemented by those in 

 my own and those received for study and identification from various 

 correspondents, among whom may be mentioned: Mr. C. W. Johnson, 

 Dr. Garry delS^. Hough, Mrs. A. T. Slosson, Dr. W. A. i^ason, Mr. 

 Charles Robertson, Mr. Theodore Pergande, Mr. F. H. Chittenden, 

 Prof. n. E. Weed, Mr. R. W. Doane, and L'Abb6 Begin. The series 

 in the I^ational Museum collection is especially valuable, containing as 

 it does a large number of bred specimens, which, more than anything 

 else, enables us to correctly judge of the extent to which the various 

 specimens of the same species will vary among themselves. This col- 

 lection also contains a duplicate set of a series of specimens sent to 

 Brauer and Bergenstamm, of Vienna, Austria, in exchange for a 

 named series of European forms, and the latter have been very val- 

 uable for comparison with our own genera and species. These authors 

 returned names, principally generic, of the series sent to them, and 

 in the-following pages I have indicated these identifications as "i»j 

 litt.''^ Mr. C. II. T. Townsend kindly sent to the Museum cotypes 

 of jnauy of his new species, and Mr. Charles Robertson generously 

 donated specimens from the same series as those from which Mr. 

 Townsend described several of his new forms. 



The region covered by this paper includes all of this country north 

 of Mexico, but does not take in any of the West Indies. When the 

 faunas of these two regions have been carefully compared with our 

 own, many additional species will no doubt be found to inhabit two or 

 even all of these regions. 



HABITS OF THE FAMILY. 



Among the fifty odd families into which the Diptera of this country 

 have been divided, the Tachinidjc is by far the most beneficial. Judged 

 from the standjjoint of an agriculturist. The only other family that ;it 

 all competes with it for this honor is the Syrphida;; but in this family 



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