10 B.C. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



THE OCCURRENCE OF GLUTOPS SINGULARIS, BURGESS. IN 

 BRITISH COLUMBIA 



By R. C. Treherne, Field Officer, Entomological Branch, 

 Dominion Department of Agricultvire 



A single male of Glutops singularis, Burgess, was taken last June, 

 1915, at Agassiz, British Columbia, by the writer. Its identit}- was 

 determined by Dr. J. M. Aldrich, La Fayette, Indiana, U.S.A., on a 

 recent professional visit to Ottawa, Ont. Dr. Aldrich remarked at the 

 time that it was extraordinary that an insect, apparently so rare, should 

 have such a wide distribution. Former specimens of this species had 

 only been taken in Massachusetts and Connecticut, U.S.A., consequently 

 I was advised to enquire from Mr. Chas. W. Johnson, of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, who had been brought into touch with the 

 insect on various occasions, regarding earlier records of its occurrence. 

 I am indebted to Mr. Johnson for giving me the references from which 

 the following notes are gathered. 



A single male was first collected by Dr. George Dimmock, at Spring- 

 field, Mass., U.S.A., about 1872, but it was not described until 1878, when 

 Mr. Edward Burgess placed the insect as a new species in a new genus 

 (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 19, p. 322, 1878). For thirty years 

 the above solitary male remained the sole representative of its species, 

 and it was not until April 18, 1909, that Mr. William Reifl:' captured three 

 males near Purgatory Swamp, Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. Under the 

 heading "The Rediscovery of Glutops singularis, Burgess," Mr. C. W. 

 Johnson records (Psyche, Dec, 1909, p. 132) the capture of these three 

 males and gives the location of the types as the}' were placed in museum 

 collections at that time. 



On April 21, 1912, Mr. Reiff was fortunate in again taking some 

 males at the same place as before mentioned in Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 

 Three years later, on April 17, 1915, at South Meriden, Connecticut, 

 U.S.A., Mr. Harry L. Johnson captured a single male. 



I am now able to record, for the past spring also, the occurrence of 

 this fly on the Pacific Coast. This specimen is in the National Collection 

 of the Entomological Branch, Dominion Dept. Agriculture, Ottawa, 

 Ontario. It is very strange, therefore, that the species should be so 

 widespread in distribution and yet be so rarely captured. Up until the 

 present time only males of this species have been taken, consequently 

 nothing is known of its life history or habits, but it is hoped that before 

 long- more information will be gathered on this interesting insect. 



