40 AUSTRALIAN STIIATIOMYII]).*:, 



run two parallel grooves to the ocelli and one median 

 groove to the base of the antennae. The antennae have 

 the first two joints short, small and equal, and the third 

 joint is about four times) as long as the two basal joints 

 united, much swollen, cylindrical but slightly tapering 

 apically, without Segments, velvety black and bare of 

 hairs. The face dees not recede as in X. an strait's, and 

 has black hairs. The: thorax and scutellum are metallic 

 blue and have black pubescence ; on the shoulders and 

 behind the wings there are yellowish markings. The ab- 

 domen is black with black pubescence, and the genitalia is 

 reddish. The legs have the apex of the femora, and the 

 base and apex of the tibiae yellowish red ; the first tarsal 

 joints are more or less red. The wings are greyish. 



Length. — Male 7 mm. 



Hah. — Tasmania: Cradle Mountain (Pencil Pine 

 Creek '0, one male taken on the 17th January, 1917. 



Genus Actina, Meigen. 



Actina, Meigen, Klassif i., 1804, p. 116. Id):, White, Proc. 

 Roy. Soc. Tasm., 1914, p. 49. Id., White, P.L.S. 

 N.S.W., xli., 1916, p. 77. 



Tvpe. — Art ina nitens, Latrielle Europe. 



Characters. — The eyes are hairy and widely separated 

 in both sexes ; the scutellum has four spines ; the abdomen 

 consists of seven visible segments; the wings contain four 

 posterior veins all issuing from the discal cell, and the 

 anal cell is closed before the wing margin. 



Key to the Species of Actina. 



1. The two basal joints of the antennae about equal. 



victories. 



The first antennal joint about twice the length of the 



second. 2. 



2. The scutellar spines always partly yellow at least; a 



species very variable in size. incisuralis. 



The scutellar spines always entirely metallic green ; a 



very small species. costata. 



The character used for A. victories, Hill, in the above 



key is taken from the description of that species. 



Actina incisuralis, Macquart. 



Beris incisuralis, Macquart, Dipt. Exot., suppl. 2, 1847, 

 p. 28; and suppl. 4, 1850, p. 42. Id., Walker, List 

 Dipt. B.M.. v. suppl. 1, 1854, p. 12. 



