376 ERNEST A. BACK. 



the male as in that genus; the third joint of the antennse is 

 shorter, less linear and with a stouter and shorter style; the 

 wings are comparatively shorter and broader, the venation 

 similar and the scutellum without macroch£etae. 



"Cophura has something of a Holcocepkala in its general ap- 

 pearance and coloring and might, at first sight, be mistaken 

 for a species of that genus, but the head is much narrower and 

 the eyes less projecting." 



Dr. Williston in the Biologia, in commenting upon this 

 genus says: — 



" In his remarks on Cophura (i. e., the above) Osten Sacken 

 says that 'the description of the antennae and of venation 

 proves Blacodes (Blax olim) to be a different genus;' the only 

 difference in the venation is the more coarctate fourth pos- 

 terior cell, which certainly is not a character of generic value. 

 The antennae of Blacodes have slender elongate style — ' stylo 

 terminali lineari, acuto, anticulis duobus primis simul sumtis 

 breviore;' in the three species before me the style is short, but 

 it may be slender, ending in a bristly point. The characters 

 of Cophura, pretty nearly as Osten Sacken defines them, are 

 brought out in my remarks on Nicocles scitulus Williston, and 

 Apharmartania fur Williston; apparently Osten Sacken over- 

 looked the description and figure of these species. Blacodes 

 cristatus Coquillett, moreover, has the style 'slender, slightly 

 over one-half as long as the third segment.' Taking all these 

 facts into consideration, the differences between Cophura and 

 Blacodes wholly disappear. Furthermore, the type of color- 

 ation is markedly alike in Blacodes bellus and Cophura humilis, 

 which has a short style. On the other hand, there is a dis- 

 tinct type observable in the remaining forms — a blue-black 

 abdomen, with white pollinose markings. 



"The following species belong to the genus Cophura as un- 

 derstood by me : — C. bella Loew, Texas; C. scitula Willst., 

 Washington; C. fur Willst., Arizona; C. clausa Coquillett, Cal- 

 ifornia; and C. pulchella, Willst.; C. humilis Willst., and C. 

 sodalis Osten Sacken, Mexico. Taracticus brevicornis Willst. 

 also agrees in all respects save that the abdomen is lightly 

 punctate." 



