70 MYCJfil'OPHILLDJE. 



Life-history. The larvae of most species of Sciophila live not in 

 fungi but on the underside of the pileus, protected by a coarse 

 webbing spun by them. They are more elongate than most 

 Mycetophilid larvae, and the pupa is encased in a close cocoon of 

 silk. A peculiarity of the larvae of some species of this genus is 

 their vivid luminosity, Hudson mentioning a New Zealand species 

 which gave out enough light to be easily visible several feet away. 



In Kertesz's Catalogue of the Diptera, Lasiosoma is admitted as 

 a separate genus and Mycomyia (Mycomya), Bond., given as a 

 synonym of Sciophila. Winnertz's Sciopliila is an incorrect inter- 

 pretation of the genus, which was established by Eondani in 1856, 

 and all the species placed by Winnertz in his Lasiosoma fall into 

 the present genus. Winnertz's SciopTiila = Mycomyia, Eond. 



25. Sciopliila bicolor, sp. nov. (PL I, fig. 10.) 



$ . Head black, palpi yellowish ; scape and base of flagellum 

 reddish yellow, the remainder black. Thorax wholly black, dorsum 

 shining, and with rather long, somewhat shaggy, yellowish hairs, 

 which extend a little over the sides, shoulders, humeri, scutellum, 

 and metanotum ; the scutellum also with a row of distinct long 

 stiff yellow hairs. Abdomen wholly black, rather shining, with 

 short brown hairs ; belly similar. Legs mainly yellow, narrowly 

 blackish at junction of coxae and femora ; coxae with moderately 

 long soft yellow hairs ; hind femora rather broadly black at base 

 and tip ; tibiae barely darkened towards tips ; tarsi black. Wings 

 pale yellowish, considerably iridescent, the sciophiline cell exactly 

 square, small, placed immediately below the upper branch of the 

 3rd vein. Halteres yellow. 



Length 3 millim. 



Described from two females in the Indian Museum from Darji- 

 ling, 7000 ft., 7 and 8. viii.09 (Paiva) (including type), and two 

 females, 28. v. 10 (Brunetti). 



Genus MYCOMYIA, Bond. 



Mycomya, Rondani, Dipt. Ital. Prod, i, p. 194 (1856). 



Sciophila, Meigen (part.). 



? Sciobia, Loew, Bernst. u. Bernst.-fauna, p. 33 (1850). 



Sciophila, Winnertz, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xiii, p. 707 (1863). 



Empheria, Winnertz, loc. cit. p. 738. 



? Cnepheeopkila, Philippi, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien. xv, p. 618 



(1865). 

 Ntoempheria, Osten Sacken, Cat. N. Amer. Dipt. p. 9 (1878). 



GENOTYPE, M. marginata, Mg., designated by Eondani. 



Head small, flattened in front, placed low upon the thorax ; 

 eyes elongate oval, or round; emarginate at the base of the an- 

 tennae; ocelli two or three in number, placed close together upon 

 a rounded, frequently blackened area ; when three ocelli are 



