310 ERNEST A. BACK. 



Dasypogon ceta Walker, List, II, 362, 1849. 



Dasypogon laticeps Van der Wulp, Tijdschr. v. Ent. X, 137, 



PL III, figs. 10-16, 1867 (Loew in Zeitsch. £. Ges. Natur- 



wiss., XXXVI, 115; 1870). 

 Holcocephala abdominalis Jones, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., XXXIII, 



278, 1907 (locality note). 

 $ 9 • — Length 4.5-7 mm. — Small yellowish species with broad 

 blackish wings; legs reddish; tips of all the tibiae and of the tarsal seg- 

 ments more or less black. 



Head black; face and front dull brassy-yellow pruinose; occiput 

 grayish pruinose; the mystax and occipital hair pale golden; eyes 

 black, with bright bronze reflections. Antennas as figured, black; 

 ocellar tubercle and proboscis black; palpi dark reddish, with pile of 

 the same color. Thorax polished black, but wholly concealed beneath 

 a dense clothing of brownish-yellow bloom; a very broad median and 

 lateral stripes of rich brown, all greatly abbreviated behind, the lateral 

 ones bisected at the suture and considerably attenuated posteriorly. 

 These stripes are apt to vary in distinctness. The pleurae are more 

 grayish pruinose in several specimens. Halteres sordid brown. Thorax 

 and abdomen without bristles; the latter rather stout, broad at base, 

 but tapering toward apex, bright yellow in fresh specimens, more 

 faded in dried ones. In drying, the abdomen usually becomes much 

 shriveled. In the male the penis is three-pronged and prominent. 

 Legs reddish, tips of all the tibiae and of the tarsal segments and the 

 claws more or less blackish ; the femora sometimes black above ; pile 

 of legs rather sparse and the bristles numerous and weak, on the femora 

 confined to the lower side. Wings blackish with violaceous reflections, 

 somewhat paler on the outer portion; all the posterior cells open; the 

 anal cell closed and petiolate. 



Type. — Type of Say's abdominalis is lost. 



Habitat. — White Mts., N. H. (Mrs. A. Slosson) ; Amherst, 

 Mass. (July 14r-22, in large numbers, Aug. 29) ; Conn. (July 

 16); N. Y. (July); Princetown (July 21), Dunnfield (July 9), 

 Cumberland Co. (Sept. 1), N. J. (Smith Cat.); Pa.;Raleigh, 

 N. C. (July 15, F. Sherman, Jr.); Tifton, Ga. (July 18, C. W. 

 Johnson); St. Augustine, Juniper Creek (May 15), Fla. (C. 

 W. Johnson) ; Wis. ; Cedar Bluffs and Meadow, Nebr. (P. R. 

 Jones) ; Opelousas, La. (May, C. W. Johnson) ; Tex. ; Ks. ; Ky. ; 

 Ala., Brazil. 



This is a widespread species inhabiting damp localities; I 

 have taken specimens in large numbers in the sweeping net 



