94 NEW AUSTRALIAN ASILIDiE, 



beyond the middle, aaid almost in a line with the veinlet 

 closing the foui"th posterior celL 



Length. Male, 10.5 mm; female, 12 - 14 mm. 



Kah. Healesville, Victoria, and Milso-n Is., New 

 South Wales. 



Female. (As this sex is the most distinct, and shows 

 the specific characters most clearly, I decribe it first.) Face 

 with a large tubercle, which is grey, and bears a bushy 

 moustache of black' and white hairs, the black predominat- 

 ing ; face above the tubercle, and the front black. Thorax 

 black, with an indistinct black centre stripe ; anterior 

 half bearing very short black bristles, posterior half with 

 long black, and about two slender white ones; scutellum 

 similarly coloured to the thorax, and bearing two long 

 white marginal bristles, as well as short black bristle-like 

 hairsi. Abdomen shining blue-black, the hindmargins of 

 segments similarly coloured, and only distinguished by 

 their smoother appearance, the whole bearing short, stiff, 

 bristle-like pubescence and short black, lateral, hindmar- 

 ginal bristles ; ventral surface brownish-black. Legs with 

 femora black, tibiae and first tarsal joint dark brown, re- 

 maining tarsal joints black ; femora and tibiae with both 

 white and black bristles; tarsi with black bristles. Wings 

 hyaline, the veins black and prominent; cubital fork long 

 and slender, contracted in the middle, and spread out 

 somewhat widely as it reaches the wing-margin ; second 

 posterior cell with the enclosing veinletsi a little waved 

 o>i both sides ; anterior cross-vein situated well beyond 

 the middle of the disical cell, and almost in a line with the 

 veinlet closing the fourth posterior cell ; halteres light 

 brown, with rim dark brown. 



Male agrees fairly well with the description of the 

 female given above, but the black thorax is mottled at the 

 sides with grey, and there is a distinct black, double median 

 stripe ; the abdomen is more pubescent, and on the legs 

 white bristles predominate over the black, and extend to 

 the tarsi. 



This species, especially in the female, is verv d'isHn'^'- 

 in ap-nearance from the other members of the genus ; it 

 may be distinguished by the uniform blue-black coloura- 

 tion of the abdomen, and bv the anterior cross- vein being 

 situated over the- apical half of the discal cell instead of 

 near the middle, as in the other species. 



Of this species I took two females settled on tree- 

 trunks in the bush at Healesville, Victoria, on December 

 13. 1914, and Dr. Ferg-uson has kindlv sent me a male, 

 taken by himself, at Milson Is., N.S.W., on Oct^.ber 31, 

 1914. 



