390 PLATYPEZTDvE. 



me out a few from Holland, but they were rendered useless in 

 transit, apparently through the box being opened by the Censor 

 and insecurely re-packed. The only discrepancy between the 

 Coonoor specimen and Verrall's figure ('British Flies,' v, fig. 51,. 

 p. 29) is the presence in the former of the bristle near the hind 



Fig. 38. Lonchoptcra lutea, Panz., . 



corners of the dorsum of the thorax, in a line with the hindermost 

 pair of dorso-centrals. This bristle is not shown in Ten-all's- 

 figure. 



Three other forms of LoncJioptem have come before me, of which 

 one is very striking, but it has unfortunately been accidentally 

 damaged. The wings bear a conspicuous black band. The body 

 is wholly black, the antennae and legs yellow, the fore tibia? and 

 tarsi quite black. A single from Kumaou in the Pusa collection. 



Family PLATYPEZILME. 



Head large; face small, broad, depressed down the middle in 

 both sexes. Eyes bare, Inrge, contiguous for a considerable dis- 

 tance in <5 with enlarged upper facets; wide apart in . Antennas 

 3-jointed, short; arista long, bare, apical. 



Thorax subquadrate, somewhat arched, not pubescent, but with 

 a few cha3totactic bristles, which are more distinct in the 2 ; 

 pleura3 bare ; scutellum with marginal bristles. 



Abdomen narrower and generally longer than the thorax ; 6- or 

 7-segmented ; genitalia in tf more or less incurved. 



Legs (except in one non-Oriental genus, Opetia) with hind 

 tibiae dilated towards tip, and hind tarsi considerably dilated on 

 first three or four joints. 



Wings with a characteristic venation, peculiar to this familv; 

 auxiliary, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd veins long and nearly straight; 4th vein 

 simple or forked, turned upwards towards tip in Platypeza and 

 ending in wing-margin shortly but distinctly below tip of 3rd vein y 

 so that the 1st posterior cell is always open ; 5th and Oth veins- 

 straight, simple. Discal cell present or absent ; basal cells short - T 

 anal cell always longer than 2nd basal, even if only slightly so. 

 Squamae of moderate size ; halteres large. 



The females of many species are of quite different coloration 

 from the males, showing conspicuous, brightly-coloured marking* 

 on the thorax and abdomen. 



