REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 287 



23- to 24-jointed anteunse and the male 11- to 12-joiiited. The sexes have 

 evidently been transposed, perhaps in the transhition, and the two basnl 

 joints not counted. If this be the case, we then have the male anteimiTj 

 'JO-jointed and the female 14-jointed, just as in our species. 



In search of evidence as to the identity of the two insects -we wrote 

 iu March to Dr. Jos. Mik, in Vienna, the well-known Diptorologist, for 

 determiued sjiecimens of the European Gccidomyla nigra. Dr. Mik re- 

 plied substantially that nigra was not known iu collections, and that it 

 is practically a lost species, and advised us to redescribe from fresh 

 material, giving C. nigra and 6. pyricola as possible synonyms.* Un- 

 der the circumstances, and considering all the evidence pro and con, 

 we feel little doubt that our species is really the same as nigra, but as 

 there seems to have been no careful redescription of this species since 

 Mei gen's short characterization, we have drawn np a detailed descrip- 

 tion of the imago, and have added to it descriptions of the larva and 

 pupa. If dipterologists in future should consider, as Mik does, that 

 nigra is really a lost species for want of proper characterization, or if, 

 from future breeding and comparison, the species infesting pears in Eu- 

 rope prove different from ours, then we would propose the unnm 2) yrlrora 

 for that here described, and there can at least be no question as to what 

 insect is intended by this name. 



DESCRIPTIVE. 



Probably the characters by which the species will be most etfectu- 

 ally distinguished are those of the male genitalia, and for this reason 

 we have given an enlarged 5gure of these parts. There is every reason 

 to believe that in a family in which the species are so small and so uni- 

 formly colored, and where the specific differences arc so difiQcult to set 

 forth, we shall find in these genitalia the chief characters for classifica- 

 tion in the fnture. It seems strange, therefore, that so little attention 

 has been given to them by writers on the CccidomyidaiJ 



DiPLOSis NIGRA [?]( Moigon). — Imacjo, — ^ . — Average length, 2.5""" ; espaueo, about 

 .''.i™"'. General color, dark-gray or black. Head, with tlio eyes, deep velvety-black; 

 face dark-gray, almost black, a'friuge of long, yellowish hairs, vrliich curve over the 

 eyes, on the edge of the occiput. Autennie 2(j-jointed {2 + 24), pediciHate-moniliform, 

 and normally clothed; oue-lifth longer thau the whole body, black, with the j)eduD- 



* The text of Dr. Mile's letter translated is as follows: 



I would beud j'ou specimens of Cccidomi/ia (Diplosis) nigra with great pleasure if I 

 possessed any. I do not believe tliat a typical specimen can be obtained anywhere, 

 and even if one still exists it would be hardly j)Ossiblo to recognize on account of the 

 perishability of these insects. My opinion, however, is this: How Schniidberger could 

 bo led to consider his Cecidomyia bred from pears as nigra, Meig., I can only explain 

 1),V its possession of a long ovipos-itor. This, however, occurs also in other species of 

 I'iplosis. I do not possess Schmidberger';3 rare work, but think that he gave no other 

 ilescriptiou of the imago than a repetition of Meigen's description of nigra. At least 

 r.lii-t appears from Nordliuger's " Die kleinen Feiude," 1869, p. fi20, as the latter would 

 certainly have repeated Schmidberger's description. Ccc'domyia pyricola, Niirdl. {I. e., 

 p. G22), is also described sopoorlv that the insect cannot be recognized. It is my opin- 

 'iin I bat Nordliuger's and Schmidberger's species are identical. [Bergenstam'm and 

 Loow express the same opinion in their Synopsis Cccidomyidarum, Verb. d. zool.-bol. 

 Oes. Wieu, 1876. — C. V. 11.] If you will allow nio to advise, you should describe your 

 iH|coLe8 from fresh and diy specimens as new, and could add the above names as donld- 

 fiil synonyms. I believe that no error would be committed by adopting this cours*'. 



tNone of the older authors have paid any detailed attention to them, nor c;ni \vi> 

 lind that the parts have been characterized in any but general terms. Josef Mile, in 

 his description of Cecidomyia hygroplnla {Wiener Enlomologische Zeitang, Jahrg. ii. 1SS3, 

 p. 211, Taf. Ill, Fig. 14) tigures and describes the parts in a geueral^Avaj-, meutiuniug 

 the hook and basal portion of the claspers, and two bud-shaped central laniimc, wldcli 

 correspond to the su])rapcnal plate in our description. 



No one probably more fully appreciated the difficulty of separating many of the 

 apecies of CecidomyidcB in their mature condition, whether fresh or dry, than our late 

 associate Mr. 13. D. Walsh. Yet, though ho has so elaborately described many gaU- 



