214 IHE DIPTERA-BKACHYCERA OF TASMANIA, 



black, the black colour occupying the great part of the 

 wings, remainder hyaline. 



Length. Male and female, 7-11 mm. 



Hab. Generally distributed. (Also in Victoria and 

 New South Wales.) 



Male and female. Face and front black, Avith rJiort, 

 dense, black hairs. Antenna" black. Thorax black, with 

 a collar of white or yellow hairs, and black hairs at sides. 

 Abdomen black, with apex entirely silvery-white, or with 

 silvery-white on either side, leaving the actual tip bla.ck ; 

 sides of abdomen with long dense hairs, which are w^hite on 

 the first segment, black on subsequent segments. Legs en- 

 tirely black. Wings with the base and foremargin very 

 broadly black, the black colour reaching to the hindmar- 

 gin irregularly beneath the end of the discal cell, and along 

 the hindmargin are four to six isolated, or partly isolated, 

 black spots, but all these black markings differ in size and 

 extent in different specimens, and may be partly confluent. 



Variation. Besides the variation in the markings of the 

 wings, referred to above, this species varies very greatly in 

 size, the expanse of wings ranging from 20 mm. to 32 mm. 



A. maculata is fairly common in Tasmania, and seems to 

 be very widely distributed on the Australian mainland. It 

 has a fondness for settling on charred stumps and logs in 

 the bush. My dates range from November 7 to January 12. 



Family IX. EMPID^E. 



Head small, usually much narrower than the thorax. 

 Proboscis frequently elongated, but sometimes short. Eyes 

 m the male either joined or separated, in the female sep- 

 arated, except in the Hyhofin(r. Antennae composed of 

 three joints. Either with or without a terminal style or 

 arista., but the first joint is sometimes difficult to distin- 

 guish. Thorax usually gibbous, with, as a rule, well- 

 developed dorsocentral, acrostichal, humeral, posthumeral. 

 notopleural, supraalar, and poistalar bristles. Abdomen 

 narrow, either bare or with lateral bristles ; the male geni- 

 talia large and complex. Legs slender, either nearly bare, 

 or bearing stiff bristles, or tufts of hairs; the first joint 

 of anterior tarsi sometimes inflated in the male. Wings 

 with the anal cell usually shorter than the second basal 

 cell, but in the Hyhotince and Bracliyxtoinatince, equal in 

 length or longer, whilst in the Tachydroiniince it is alto- 

 gether wanting ; the discal cell is also sometimes wanting ; 

 the shape of the wings may be normal, or the hind-angle 

 may be altogether slojDed away. 



