AMERICAN DIPTERA. 383 



and not clubbed, the tarsi but slightly thickened; the abdo- 

 men is quite smooth, as in Nicocles. With T. brevicornis it 

 forms a connection between Taracticus, Blacodes, and Nicocles, 

 and they both might perhaps be better placed under Blacodes, 

 which would then be distinguished from Taracticus by the 

 presence of a terminal style, and from Nicocles by the structure 

 of the male abdomen, should this species be found not to 

 possess the silvery markings, as I suspect. 



Copliura truiica. 



Blacodes truncus Coquillett, Can. Ent., XXV, 34, 1893. 

 " "^ 9. — Length 9 mm. — Same as cristaUis with these exceptions: 

 Tibiae, extreme apex of femora and base of each segment of tarsi 

 yellow. Bloom of front, light gray; mystax very sparse, white; third 

 segment of antennae almost linear, nearly four times as long as the 

 second. Thorax destitute of a median crest of pile, scutellum not 

 densely pilose, bearing only two marginal bristles; metanotum uni- 

 formly gray pruinose, destitute of silvery spots. Bloom of abdomen, 

 consisting of an anterior cross-band on each segment, dilated each 

 side so as to reach the posterior angle of the segment. Brown clouds 

 on wings very faint; base of second submarginal cell furnished with 

 a long stump of a vein. Halteres yellow." 



Type.—\]. S. N. M., Cat. No. 930. Two male and two 

 female specimens. 



Habitat. — Los Angeles Co., Cal. 



NICOCLES. 



WPygostolus Loew, Cent., VII, 28; 1866; X, 24, 1872 (note.) 

 WPygostolus Schiner, Verb. Zool.-Bot. Ges., XVI, 846, 1866. 

 Nicocles Jaennicke, Neue Exot. Dipt., 57, 1867. 

 Nicocles Loew, Berl. Ent. Zeit., 1874, 377 (note.) 

 Nicocles Williston, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, XI, 16, 1884. 

 Nicocles Coquillett, Can. Ent., XXV, 119, 1893; table of species. 



Front tibice with a terminal claw-hke spur, all the posterior 

 cells of the wing open, and the abdomen (PL I, fig. 8) of the 

 male long, unusually depressed, with only six segments ap- 

 parent when viewed from above. The male abdomen from 

 the base of the third segment to the tip of the fifth gradually 

 expanding in width; the fifth and sixth segments very flat, 

 always silvery-white pruinose, and on each side with about 

 five more or less distinct punctures arranged in oblique rows 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXXV. SEPTEMBER, 1909 



