62 THE DIPTERA-BRACHYCERA OF TASMANIA, 



well before tbe wing-tip ; discal cell giving rise to three 

 posterior veins, which are faint but complete ; anal cell 

 closed bluntly at some distance from the margin. 



This genus, so far as the form of scute! lum is concerned, 

 bears a certain resemblance to the Mexican genus Cyni- 

 pimorpha, but in the latter genus the scutellum ends merely 

 in a short blurt process, instead of, as in Lonchegaster, being 

 produced into a long thin spiue. 



This genus, containing a single species, is, so far as is 

 known at present, the only representative of the Pachygastrince 

 occurring in Australia. 



LONCHEGASTER ARMATA, Sp. nOV. (Fig. 7.) 



Thorax and abdomen black; legs pale yellow. 



Length. Male and female, 3 mm. 



Hab. Man gal ore. 



Male. Head broader than long and flattened beneath; 

 front black, shining. Eyes large, bare, meeting on the front. 

 Antennae orange. Thorax dull black, with very short 

 yellowish pubescence, which does not extend to the scutellum ; 

 scutellum produced backwards in the form of a narrow spine. 

 Abdomen blue black, in contrast with the dull black of the 

 thorax, and like the thorax covered with a minute punctuation. 

 Legs pale yellow, the femora indistinctly banded with brown, 

 and the anterior tibiae and tarsi darkened. Wings hyaline, 

 anterior veins light brown, posterior veins pale; subcostal 

 vein consfiicuously darkened as it approaches the costa ; 

 stigma pale yellow brown; cubital vein curved upwards, with 

 a small fork, which is situated well before the wing tip. 

 Halteres white. 



Female resembles the male, but the eyes are widely 

 separated, and veins of the wing slightly more distinct. 



Of tliis species I have met with four specimens, all of 

 which occurred on the windows of my house at Mangalore, 

 during the summer of 1911-1912, the dates extending from 

 December 15 to February 27. 



Family IIL NEP/IESTRINID;E. 



A family distinguished from all others by its ])eculiar 

 venation, the veins curving up and running parallel with the 

 hind margin of the wing. 



Head broad and short, set close against the thorax. 

 Proboscis frequently mucli produced. Eyes either bare or 

 hairy, usually widely separated in both se.xes, but sometimes 

 touching or closely approximated in the male, in which case 

 the eyes in the female are not very widely separated. 

 Antennae small, widely separated at the base, third joint, 



i 



