374 INSECTA. 



Two other subgenera are removed from the last of the division by 

 the pilose or plumous setae of their antennae. 



Dryomyza, Fall., Meig., 

 Where the face is concave beneath the antennae, and terminates 

 inferiorly, or at the oral cavity, by a short, truncated snout, as in Scato- 

 phaga, and in rrfost of the Dolichocera*. 



Sapromyza, Fall., Meig., 

 Where the face is straight, and does not project inferiorly f. 



The last of the Scatomyzides have the seta of the antennae simple J ; 

 these organs are always very short, distant, and straight, with the last 

 joint semi-ovoid or forming a short triangle obtuse at the end. These 

 Insects are very small, almost glabrous, black or cinereous, and more 

 or less varied with yellow ; the legs are strong and the eyes large. 

 The summit of the head is flat and frequently presents, at its pos- 

 terior extremity, a triangular brown space, on which are placed the 

 ocelli. The two ordinary transverse nervures of the wings are 

 approximated near the middle. These Diptera are found on flowers. 



Several of the larvae attack the interior of different plants, and 

 some of them are very injurious to the agriculturist, by destroying va- 

 rious cerealia previous to their fructification. Those of one species — 

 Musca. friL, L. — in Sweden sometimes destroy the tenth of the crop of 

 barley, the total loss thereby occasioned being estimated at one hundred 

 thousand golden ducats. The larvae of some other species — the Os- 

 cina pumilionis, and O. lineata. Fab. — are also highly noxious. For 

 further details on those Insects which attack our cerealia, see the Me- 

 moir of the late M, Olivier^. 



These Scatomyzides compose our genus 



OsciNis, Lat., Fab., 

 To which we refer the Chlorops of Meigen. A species that I have 

 received from Germany under the name of brevipennis, might how- 

 ever form a separate subgenus on account of the seta of its antennae, 

 which is thick, almost in the form of a stilet, and geniculate. The an- 

 terior and superior extremity of the head is sometimes truncated, and 

 sometimes pointed. Another dipterous Insect which was also sent to 

 me from Germany, and marked Piophila vulgaris \\ is in the same case 



referred by Fallen to this subgenus, differs from the other species in the seta of the 

 antennae, which is simple. The palette also is larger and more orbicular. This in- 

 sect, which has a cinereous body with a fulvous abdomen, is very common in the in- 

 terior of our houses. The seta; and dentations of the exterior margin of the wings 

 form no peculiar character — it is common to several other Scatomyzides. The 

 Mouche hossue of De Geer — Insect., VI, ii, 5 — quoted in the first edition of this work, 

 whose larva, that feeds on Aphides, has two horns posteriorly, is not an Osciua, but 

 rather a Heleomyza. 



* Meigen. 



-f- Meigen. 



X It is thickened at its base. 



§ Certain species in which the seta of the antennae is plumous, and referred by 

 him to the genus Tephritis, are perhaps Sapromyzae. 



II The P. scutellaris of Fallen and Meigen. The face is but very slightly silky. 

 The top of the head and thorax is pilose in the Heleomyzae, a subgenus that is easily 



