1906.] Wheeler, A New Wingless Fly from Porto Rico. 269 



together with a number of small Phoridse, which I at first took to be 

 Podurans allied to Sminthiirns, had entered it through the small 

 apertures. There was nothing to indicate an}^ myrmecophilous 

 relationship between the ants and the Phorids. Probably both had 

 been independently attracted to the box by the strong odor of the 

 decomposing beetle. The Phoridae, which on closer examination were 

 found to belong to an undescribed species of Pw/ici/?/zo/'a, were running 

 about on the surface of the beetle and the adjacent walls of the box 

 with a rapid skating gait, interrupted by quick turns and sudden halts. 

 The beetle was examined at intervals of a few hours during the three 

 following days, but though from one to half a dozen Puliciphora 

 females were taken on each of these occasions, no males were to be 

 found. It is not improbable that these have well-developed wings 

 with a typical Phorid neuration like the males of Ecitomyia whcelcri 

 Brues. I subjoin a description of the new species from the types in the 

 American Museum of Natural History, and a list of the literature 

 pertaining to the apterous and subapterous Phoridae. 



Puliciphora borinquenensis sp. nov. » 



(PI. XXXIV.) 



Female. Length, .7-1 mm. 



Head slightly broader than long, with subparallel sides, straight posterior 

 border and slightly convex and projecting front. OcelU present. Eyes small, 

 flattened, distinctly hairy. Antennae set in deep frontal concavities, as in 

 the other species of the genus; basal joint globose, second and third joints very 

 small, cylindrical, subequal and, like the long arista, distinctly plumiilose. 

 Palpi long, projecting beyond the head when the latter is seen from above; 

 in profile, their upper surfaces are straight or slightly concave, their lower 

 surfaces convex. Proboscis well developed, projecting, laterally compressed, as 

 long as the height of the head. The head has the following chaetotaxy: 

 There are four or five long macrochastae on the outer apical surface of each palpus, 

 four close together and projecting forward on the middle of the front, one on 

 each side of the anterior ocellus, two between the posterior ocelli, and one at 

 each of the extreme posterior corners of the head. 



Thorax shorter than the head, but about twice as broad as long, a little 

 narrower in front than behind, with feebly convex sides. It is as broad as the 

 head, but hardly a third ot the width of the greatest transverse diameter of the 

 abdomen. There are no traces of either wings or halters. The pleura; are 

 steep and flattened, the three segments being very short and indistinctly 

 indicated. On each side of the notum there are three macrochaita;, which in- 

 crease in length from before backwards ; the middle one is inserted further 

 dorsally than the other two, the posterior higher than the anterior. Between 

 the posterior pair, which occupies the extreme posterior comers of the thorax, 

 there is a smaller pair near the posterior edge and about as far apart as each of 

 them is from the posterior comer. There arc very few hairs on the pleura*. 



Abdomen very voluminous, egg-shaped. The chitinous investment is 



