Bombyliidae. 



119 



posterior side of the oral cone Ile the stipites of the maxillæ. Pro- 

 boscis more than half as long as the body, directed forwards and 

 more or less downwards ; labrum as long as the basal part of labium, 

 pointed at the apex; the maxillæ are long, chitinous threads, and 

 likewise hypopharynx which is slightly broader towards the base; the 

 maxillary palpi are small, one-jointed, beset with hairs; hypopharynx 

 and maxillæ a little longer than labrum, hypopharynx the longest; 

 labium long and thin, strongly chitinised; the basal part is long, twice 

 as long as the labella; these latter are narrow, not broader than the 

 basal part, chitinised; they are indistinctly two-jointed, and they are 

 able to be spread out and recurved. In rest the oral cone is infolded, 

 but the proboscis protrudes. Thorax short, almost quadrate; postalar 

 and scutellar marginal bristles may sometimes be visible in the clothing; 

 metapleura with long hairs. Abdomen short, pointed behind, con- 

 sisting of seven not transformed segments. The male genitalia re- 

 semble those in Argyramoeha, but they are asymmetrically turned ; they 

 consist of an eighth, small but normally shaped segment, at the apex 

 of this, above there is a somewhat triangular plate, divided longitud- 

 inally by a suture; its two halves are somewhat divergent at the end, 

 and each has a two-pointed apex, the outer point being the longest; 

 at the ventral side there is a somewhat semiannular plate with two 

 small lamellæ at the apex. The female genitalia also resemble those 

 in Argyramoeha and Anthrax and there are the same two combs of 

 spines, but they are quite withdrawn, and the opening leading to 

 them is closed by dense, converging hairs. Legs with shorter or 

 longer, strong bristles on the ventral side of the posterior femora, or 

 only on the hind femora, and on the tibiæ, those on the front tibiæ 

 small; all tibiæ with apical spurs, on the front tibiæ they are very 

 small. Glaws of middle size. There are two well developed pulvilli; 

 the empodium is very small, lobe-shaped. Wings with the cubital 



Fig. 40. Wing of B. minor. 



vein issuing in a normal manner from the radial vein, it is forked 

 and there are two cubital cells ; four posterior cells as in the Anthra- 

 cids, the first closed at some distance from the margin; anal cell 

 narrowly open; the first basal cell longer than the second. At the 



