Twelfth Report op the State Entomologist 223 



Additional Notes on Sciara.* 



The Fungus Gnats. 



(Ord. DiPTERA : Fam. Mycetophilid^.) 



A number of species of this genus were noticed in the Tenth Report 

 mi the Injurious and Other Insects of the State of New York, and two, 

 believed to be new to science, were described. During the present year 

 several other forms were received from Dr. J. B. Smith, of the New Jersey 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, who had bred them from mushrooms^ 

 decaying potatoes, and decaying blackberry roots. On his request they 

 have been given some study. The species of Sciara are so similar to one 

 another in many respects, that it is difficult to recognize the various 

 species from some of the descriptions published. Those bred from the 

 mushrooms and potatoes, however, do not agree with any descriptions 

 accessible to me, of either European or American species of this genus, 

 and they are herewith described as new : 



Sciara multiseta n. sp. Head and thorax fuscous; abdomen a 

 variable dark ochreous; antennce brownish with a thin whitish pubescence; 

 palpi yellowish ; wings somewhat iridescent, hyaline, anterior veins dark 

 ochreous; halteres fuscous apically, pale yellowish at the base; coxa 

 yellowish, femur darker, tibia still darker, and tarsi fuscous distally. 



Antennae longer than the head and thorax; basal segments enlarged; 

 first, cuboidal; second, globose; third to fifteenth nearly cylindrical, length, 

 about twice the thickness, pediceled distally ; terminal segment conical. 

 Palpi : basal segment short ; second broadly ovate, apically with a large, 

 sensory pit ; third, elliptical, shorter than the second ; fourth, one-third 

 longer than the preceding ; each with scattering large setae and numerous 

 minute ones which have a verticillate arrangement on the last two 

 segments. 



Thorax with scattering hairs ; on the scutum of the mesothorax there 

 are three rows of fine setae on its dorsal surface. 



Wings, subcosta (ist longitudinal) short, not extending to the fork of 

 the second branch of radius (3rd longitudinal) and media (4th and 5th 

 longitudinals). First branch of radius (2nd longitudinal) extending a 

 little beyond the middle of the wing and just beyond its middle, joined 

 by the small cross-vein to the second branch, and joining costa before 

 the fork of media. Second branches of radius and media, about equidis- 

 tant from the apex of the wing. Second branch of media (5th longitudi- 

 nal) and the two branches of cubitus (6th and 7th longitudinals) reachmg 

 border of wing at nearly equal distances from each other in the fe- 

 male — in the male, the branches of cubitus are a little nearer each other. 

 The anal vein (8th longitudinal) over half, in the female, and two-thirds 

 in the male the length of the preceding vein (PI. VI, Figs, i, 2). 



•Communicated by E. P. Felt, D. Sc. 



