5^2 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [September, 



such characters, unless of very remarkable form, and accom- 

 panied with some other tangible marks of distinction. Recently 

 I have been engaged in working up the Dolichopodidge for the 

 Biologia, and I find so many forms of hypopygium in the genus 

 Pelastoncurus as to leave no doul^t of the untenabilit}' of my 

 genus. I discard the name the more willingly, from the fact 

 that it is the most villainously compounded (with three or four 

 exceptions) that I ever inflicted on a long-suffering public. 

 4 Xanthotrlcha Aldrich, Trans. Ent. Soc, London, 1896, 339. 



This is identical with Thrypticus Gerstaecker, Stett. Ent. 

 Zeit., 1866, 43. It has also been described by Wheeler under 

 the name of Aphantotimus , which would have been prior to my 

 name. Wheeler has referred with a doubt to this synonymy 

 in his paper, p. 30. By the way, I may take occasion to re- 

 mark that my Th. minor differs from his ivillistoni in having 

 antennae which are yellow, except the tip of third joint. 



The flat or concave space before the scutellum cannot be a 

 character of importance in this genus, as it does not occur in 

 most of ni}^ specimens. As the species are minute and very 

 soft, shriveling or drying, it is usually' impossible to .speak with 

 certainty on this point. When I described the genus, there 

 seemed to be a difference from Aphantothniis in this part of the 

 structure ; but I am now convinced that it is evanescent. 



5. Chrysotus apicalis Aldnch, loc. cit., 330. 



This species has had such a checkered history that I can 

 best express it by putting it in the form it might assume in a 

 catalogue as follows : 



Chrysotus barbatus 



Loew, Neue Beitr., viii, 48 ; Mon. N. A. Dipt., ii, 38 (both male 

 only, as Synarthrus barbatus) ; Neue Beitr., viii, 63 ; Mon. N. 

 A. Dipt., ii, 175 (both female, as Chrysotus validus). 



Wheeler, Ent. News, vii, 154 ( Xiphandrimn americanum). 



Aldrich, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1896, 330 [Chrysotus apicalis). 



The synonymy of Xiphajidrimn is on Wheeler's authority. 



6. Oiaphorus approximatns Aldrich, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1896, 321. 

 This is the same as our old friend D. spcdabilis Loew. 



