ISO ERNEST A. BACK. 



Ablautus flavipes. 



Ablautus flavipes Coquillett, Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., VI, 178, 

 1904. 



" S 9 ■ — Length 5-5.6 mm. — Black; abdomen except at base, halteres 

 and legs, yellow; dorsum and thorax with distinguishable stripes, 

 abdomen yellowish-gray pruinose, with three rows of black spots. 



" Black; abdomen except at base, the halteres and legs, yellow; 

 apices of the femora, of the tibiae, and of the tarsi, also a vitta on the 

 upper side of the front femora, brown; hairs of head white, bristles of 

 lower side of first two segments of the antennae and on the upper part 

 of occiput, yellowish-white; hairs of the body white, bristles of thorax 

 pale yellow. Abdomen densely yellowish-gray pruinose, usually 

 marked with a median and lateral row of brown spots; hairs and 

 bristles of legs white, the sides of the last three segments of the front 

 tarsi of the male with cluster of black hairs, giving these segments the 

 appearance of being dilated, the bristles of these segments are black; 

 wings hyaline, veins chiefly yellow." 



Type.—V. S. N. M., Cat. No. 7947. Three males and two 

 females. 



Habitat. — Los Angeles and San Diego Counties, Cal. (May, 

 D. W. Coquillett); Alamogordo, N. M. (May 10, Am. Ent. 

 Soc. Phil.). 



The American Entomological Society Philadelphia possesses 

 over twenty specimens collected at Alamogordo, N. M., May 

 10, 1902, which agree with the type material except that their 

 legs are wholly yellowish, with only a trace in a few instances 

 of a dark vitta on the front femora; as the legs of the type 

 material are nearly wholly yellow, I consider these specimens 

 only as a slight variation. I will append the following notes: 



Front, occiput, dorsum of thorax, scutellum and meso- 

 pleurae, yellowish-brown pruinose; the rest of the pleurae and 

 the occipital orbits grayish. Abdomen paler pruinose than 

 the dorsum of thorax, in certain lights almost whitish pruinose; 

 each segment of the male, and all except the last in the fe- 

 male, with a distinct blackish spot in the middle near the 

 anterior margin; there are smaller dark spots on the sides of 

 the same segments, but these in nature are not seen from 

 above, at least not so in dried specimens, for the sides of the 

 abdomen are curved under over the venter. The last segment 

 of the female is polished black. The stripes of the thoracic 

 dorsum are obsolete and the hairs on the anterior part and 

 over the base of the wing seem almost scale-like. 



