1892.] 



23.— BRACHYCOMA, Dsv. 



Gen. cli. — Eyes bare, shorter than the sides of tlio head ; antenna; 

 with the second joint short, the third joint tliickencd, and from one- 

 third longer to twice as k)ng as the second ; arista tliickencd at the 

 base and pubescent ; fronto-orbital bristles not extending much below 

 the base of the antenna; ; checks sometimes ciliated with rows of hairs ; 

 facialia almost bare ;* abdomen without discal seta;, and marked with 

 sub-semilunar spots ; legs with long claws, hairs, and hirge pulvilli 

 on the fore tarsi of the males only. 



This genus is closely allied to both Tachina and Macromjclda. It 

 differs from the former by the shortened second antennal joint, and 

 by the shortness of the row of fronto-orbital bristles ; from the latter 

 it may be known by the third joint of the antennre being wider in- 

 stead of narrower than the second one, and by the general shape and 

 markings on the abdomen. 



1 (2) Arista very shortly pubescent and cheeks ciliated 1. devia, Fin. 



2 (1) Arista with base subplumose and cheeks bare 2. smerinthi, sp. n. 



B. DEVIA, Fin. 



Forehead, face and epistome prominent ; sides of frontalia and face glistening 

 white with black reflections ; antennfe with third joint between two and three times 

 as long as the second ; arista long, with the basal two-fifths thickened and slightly 

 pubescent ; vibrissas long and numerous ; cheeks with a partly double I'ow of small 

 cilise, which extend from a little below the termination of the fronto-orbital bristles 

 quite to the bottom of the face ; palpi filiform and piceous, with the apices some- 

 times pale ; thorax blue-black, with three longitudinal black lines, the central one 

 broad and often trifid ; three external dorso-central bristles behind (he transverse 

 groove ; abdomen blue-black, the first segment quite black, the others marked on 

 their hinder edges with two large semilunar black spots ; wings with apical and 

 outer cross veins both curved, and having a short appendix ; legs black. Not 

 uncommon. 



B. SMERINTHI, sp. 11. 



Female. Forehead and epistome slightly prominent ; eyes widely separated ; 

 frontal stripe rather narrower than the sides of frontalia, which, together with face, 

 are white with black reflections ; fronto-orbital bristles in a double row, the outer 

 one being very short, consisting only of three or four setae, the inner row continued 

 to slightly below the roots of the antenna? ; antennae short, brown, with the third 

 joint wide and about one-third longer than the second ; arista ratiier short, with the 



* There is a very good figure of the bead of one of these flies in Messis. Briiuer and Bergcn- 

 stamm's Monograph on the " Muscaria schizometopa," Taf. vii, fig. 173. 



