July 1895] 



PSYCHE. 



2r,i 



OX THE TACHIXID GEM'S ACROGLOSSA WILLISIOX. 



BY D. \V. COt^UlLLETT. W ASl llN(,TOX, D. C. 



A short time ago, in the course of 

 classifying the Tachinidae in my col- 

 lection, I referred one of the species to 

 Acroglossa hesperidannii Will., since 

 it agreed in every particular with the 

 description of this genus and species in 

 Scudder's "Butterflies of New Eng- 

 land," pp. 1916-1917, with the single 

 exception that the anterior pair of ocel- 

 lar bristles curved backward, instead of 

 forward, as stated in the description — 

 a discrepancy which I imputed to a 

 typographical or clerical error. The 

 species also agreed so well with the 

 descriptions of the genus Spallanzania 

 Desv. as given by various European 

 authors that I accepted the statement 

 of Brauerand Bergenstamm, based upon 

 a study of North and South American 

 specimens, that the genus Acroglossa 

 VVilliston is identical with the previ- 

 oush described Spallanzania Desvoidv 

 (not Rondani, to whom these authors 

 erroneously credit it; Zweif. Kais. 

 Museums Wien, V, 354). Not long 

 after this I received a copy of a paper 

 by Giglio-Tos, on the " Ditteri del 

 Messico, parte III." wherein this 

 author refers a Mexican species to 

 Acroglossa (1. c, 3^)1 stating that the 

 latter genus canno: be the same as 

 Spallanzania, owing to the fact tliat the 

 oceilar bristles curve forzvard — an 

 opinion reiterated by Mr. \V. A. Snow 

 in the Kans. Univ. Q_uarterl\-. Ill, 1S5. 



Neither of these authors had seen the 

 types of Acroglossa, which are con- 

 tained in the Harris collection, now in 

 the Boston Museum. Wishing to settle 

 this matter dertniteh 1 applied to the 

 Secretary, Mr. Samuel Henshaw, who 

 kindly examined these types for me and 

 writes that the l)ristles in* question 

 curve backward. My supposition of 

 an error in the original description, 

 therefore, proves to be correct, and 

 there is no valid reason for not sinkinff 



o 



Acioglossa as a synonym of Spallan- 

 zania. 



It is interesting to note thai Mr. 

 C. H. T. Townsend had correctly 

 identified a specimen of Acroglossa 

 hesperidariini. Mr. W. A. Snow 

 recently compared this specimen \\ ith 

 the types of Pseudogonia rzijicaiida 

 Town, and P. obso/ef a ^,To\yns., and 

 reached the conclusion that they all 

 belong to one and the same species 

 (1. c , 1S4). The descriptions leave no 

 doubt that this is the true Acr_ogiossa 

 hesperidaruiii Will. 



BraLier :md Bergenstamm refer Cne- 

 phalia Rond., Pseudogonia B. B. and 

 Spallanzania Desv. as sub-genera of 

 one genus, to which they erroneously 

 apph' the name of Cnephalia (1. c, 

 \'I, 314); whereas .Spallanzania is 

 much the older name. Owing to the 

 fact that in certain species of this genus 

 the third antenn d and second aristal 



