406 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVI. 



peculiar venation ; this led to the description of a large number of 

 species by the earlier dipterists, among them Meigen, Macquart, 

 Zetterstedt, ISohemann, Haliday, Rondani, and Egger, the types of 

 which ultimately found lodgment in various public museums of 

 Europe. Most, if not all, of these describers based their species 

 chiefly on size and color, having but little comprehension of the 

 real specific distinctions. When they came to identifying each 

 other's descriptions, confusion was worse confounded, and down to 

 the present time it has been impossible to get the family, which is 

 mostly comprised in the single genus, into intelligible shape. 



Mr. Becker secured for study the material contained in twelve 

 public museums of Europe, including all the types now in existence 

 of the earlier descriptions, with a few exceptions. He not only 

 made a thorough study of all these collections, but he has pub- 

 lished a full report in this work on the named species and types 

 in each, thus putting the old species in a perfectly clear light and 

 preventing future disputes over alleged types and misnamed species 

 in these collections. 



In addition to this material and that in his own collection, 

 Mr, Becker was able to study the collections of some eight dipterists 

 of the present generation, so that his work may fairly be termed 

 exhaustive. 



Sixty-five European species of the genus Phora are described, 

 of which twenty-two are new. The remainder of the family, as 

 represented in Europe, consists of Trineura, three species ; Coni- 

 cera, two species ; Gymnophora and Metopina, one each. 



The arrangement of the paper is admirable, and includes the fol- 

 lowing sections : table of genera of the world ; structure and char- 

 acters of the genus Phora ; analytical table of species ; description of 

 species ; enumeration of the named species in each of the type col- 

 lections examined, with the proper status of each specimen ; a brief 

 division on biology ; other European genera and species ; extra- 

 European genera, with their species ; index of European species, 

 including synonyms ; list of accepted European species ; list of 

 extra-European described species in the family, with references ; 

 explanation of plates, and table of contents. This will give an 

 idea of the completeness of the work. 



The characters used are largely those of the bristles, the "chaeto- 

 taxy " of recent writers ; without the use of these bristles it would 

 be impossible to write an intelligible description of many of the 

 species. There is no family of flies in which it is more essential. 



