I!!07] 
./Oil X SOX — CIUOXEA VMJIA HARRIS 
41 
TIIK SXOW FLY, ClIIOXI'A l A/J.'.l HARRIS. 
HY niAKLEM W. JOHNSO.V, liOSTON, MAS.S. 
'Fins .sjK'cic.s was cvidontly disc-ovi'n-d hy 4'. \V. Harris ])rior to FSdd, for in 
Ids list of tlic Insects of Massacluisclts, in Hitchcock’s Report on tlic (Icology, etc., 
of .Massaclin.sctts, ISdd, page 5t)d, he refers to it as “('hiotiea —one s])eeies.” In 
the second edition of Hiteheoek’s Heology, etc., ISdf), ]>age 575, tlie specific natne 
rn/f/a is given. Harris’s fir.st edition of Ids Report on the Insects of Massaehn.setts 
injurious to vegetation appeared iti 1S4I, in which, on page 404, he refers to this 
insect as follows: — “d’here are e.xeeptions to almost all general rules. Thus we 
find, atnong Dipterotis in.seets, sotne kinds that never have wings. ( )ne of these 
is the thick-legged snow-gnat, .or Vhionra rahja. 'Fids singular insect looks more 
like a s])ider than a gnat. Its body is rather less than one fourth of an inch long, 
and is of a hrowidsh yellow or nankin color. 'I'he legs are rather paler, and are 
covered with short hairs. The head is small and hairy. 'Fhe fir.st two joints of 
the antennae are thick, the others slender and tapering atid he.set with hairs. Alt ho ngh 
the wings are watiting, there is a pale yellow poiscr oti each side of the hinder part of 
the thorax. The hindmost thighs are very thick, and somewhat howed in the 
males, which suggested the name of valrja, or how-legged, given to the in.seet in my 
eatalogiK'. The body of the female ends with a sword-shapeil borer, resembling 
that of a grasshopper. These wingless gnats live on the ground, and the females 
bore into it to lay their eggs. They are not eommon here.” 
'Fhe above was reprinted in the .second edition, 1S.52, l)age 4.S2, ami in the third 
or Flint edition in lS(i2, page (iOl ; in the latter a poor figure is given. This con- 
stitutes the only description given by Harris, but it seems sidfieient to identify the 
s])eeies, and his ty])c (the female) is still in good preservation; of the male only the 
genitalia remain. 
Mr. P. II. (Ios.se in his book entitled “The (’anadian Naturalist,” juiblished in 
1S40, refers to them as “being doubtle.ss the ('hiotira araneoidrs.’’ He found 
them crawling on the snow, in piiie woods, during the month of March. 
In the brief and inade(|uate deseri|)tions given by Walker of his two sj)eeies, ( '. 
(laprrsn and xriln (Li.st I, p. 82, 1848), there .seem to be no characters to separate 
them from rnlga. 
'Fhe description of C. nivicola I'oane (.lonrn. N. V. Fait. Soe., VHl, p. ISO, 
IhOO), based only on the female, agrees very elo.sidy with the female of ('. valga, 
