22 AMERICAN BLACK FLIES OR BUFFALO GNATS. 



tarsus has the basal joint but little produced at apex (PI. II, fig. 2), 

 the claws are bifid (PL II, fig. 14), and the radius is very indistinctly 

 furcate at apex. 



The species was originally described from reared specimens, the 

 larva) and pup?e of which were stated to have been obtained at Frier- 

 sons Mill, La., but the type specimen in collection is from a lot 

 obtained by Prof. F. M. Webster at Somerset Landing, La., April 

 10, 1886. A very large number of these specimens are in the col- 

 lection. There is also a series of specimens from Lake View, Miss., 

 April 18, 1886; one specimen, College Station, Tex., (F.M.Webster) ; 

 four specimens, Arkansas, May 6, 1886 (Lugger), and I have seen 

 specimens from Westville, Conn., April 25, 1907 (W. E. Britton), and 

 lona, N. J., April 21, 1907 (collection C. W. Johnson), which agree 

 with the types, except in being rather darker in color. There are 

 several females of this species in the Illinois State Laboratory of 

 Natural History collection from Aledo, 111., April 30, 1891, 1 female 

 from Quiver Lake near Havana on the Illinois River, April 30, 1895, 

 and 1 female from Havana, Illinois River, April 14, 1896. The 

 record of SlmuUuTn vittatum from Mount Carmel, 111., April 9, in 

 the Twenty-seventh Report of the State Entomologist of Illinois, 

 1912, page 37, refers to 'pecuarum. 



The male specimens from which Riley's description was drawn are 

 not among the material in the collection, and those mentioned as 

 being in Cornell University Museum, by Johannsen, I have found 

 upon examination are females. Thus, I have had to copy the original 

 descrij)tion. 



5.— Length 1.5""". to 2.2"™. Differs considerably from female. Head not 

 visible from above, being occupied by the very large confluent eyes ; the remain- 

 ing parts below the eyes are black, with black hairs and bristles ; eyes composed 

 of two different kinds of facets, those above being very large, as large again as 

 those of the female, and those in front and surrounding the dwarfed trophi very 

 minute, the dividing line between the sizes being abrupt; antennte similar to 

 those of the female, more pronounced in color, both the black and reddish being 

 more vivid; maxillary palpi black, and shorter than the antennje. Thorax black 

 above, with sparse yellow hairs; legs somewhat lighter in color, tip of tarsi not 

 black ; hairs upon legs longer than in those of female. Wings hyaline, veins and 

 base yellowish-brown. Abdomen black, with grayish-white posterior margins to 

 segments, dorsally and laterally, and covered with longer yellowish hairs. 



Described from two bred specimens. 



This species is known popularly as the " buffalo-gnat," and has in 

 the past proven a great pest to cattle in the South, particularly near 

 to the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Very few recent specimens are 

 in the collection and the general opinion among entomologists seems 

 to be that it is much less common than in former years, when it is 

 recorded as having been so numerous and so persistent in its attacks 

 on stock as to kill mules and cattle. 



