288 Mr, C. H. T. Townsend on Diptera 



It seems probable that Wulp's X. dorsalis, and perhaps 

 some of his other species, are either identical with or con- 

 stitute but varieties of atripennis and orcuata. 



Note. — On the underside, at extreme base of abdomen, in 

 both sexes, apparently on tirst segment, there is to be distin- 

 guished, sometimes plainly, sometimes with much difficulty, 

 a transverse swelling or prominence of the yellow integument 

 clothed with some rather conspicuous black hairs. This has 

 nothing whatever to do with the ventral peculiarities of the 

 second segment of female in Besseria^ which are very different. 

 And while on this subject I may here confirm Mr. Coquillett's 

 maintenance of his genus Celatoria as distinct from Besseria. 

 Tlie ventral process of the second segment of male in Cela- 

 toria is wholly different, as are all the other characters. 

 This can at once be seen by comparing the figure of Celatoria 

 in * Insect Life,' ii. p. 234, with that of Besseria given by 

 Brauer and Bergenstamm in the ' Muscaria Schizometopa,' 

 i. figs. 288 (head and abdomen of female), and by Coquillett's 

 notes on the characters in ' Psyche,' June 1895, p. 252. 

 Celatoria does not belong in the Phaniidse at all, but in 

 some as yet undetermined and undescribed group of the 

 Tachinida\ 



It may be pointed out that Wahlbergia hrevipennis, Lw., 

 from Nebraska, is not a Xanthonielanodes. Neither is it a 

 Besseria. I have had figures drawn of the head and wing 

 of this species, as well as of several other of Loew's un- 

 recognized North-American Tachinidse, made from the type 

 specimens in the Cambridge Museum, which will be pub- 

 lished later in a separate paper. But it may be mentioned 

 here Xhsii HyaJoviyia triovguliferay\jVf.,v;h\Q\\ is one of these 

 species, is not a HyaJomyia^ but is identical with HyaJomyodes 

 Weedii, Towns., which thus becomes a synonym. The species 

 will be known as Byalomyodes triangulifera, Lw. (see 

 ' Psyche,' April 1893, pp. 429-430). Loew's Euthera tenta- 

 tri.v 1 have taken in New Mexico, on the Jornada del Muerto, 

 in July ; it belongs somewhere in the body of the Tachi- 

 nidge, s. str. Xysta didyma, Lw., and Himantostoma sugens^ 

 Lw., also belong in the body of the Tachinidse. 



N.B. — I may be accused by some persons of taking up 

 valuable space with useless data in giving the dates of speci- 

 mens, male and female, separately and in such detail as 

 appears in this paper ; but I believe that such data, when 

 exact, taken in connexion with the prevailing meteorological 

 conditions, may indicate much with regard to the life- 

 histories of such insects, concerning which so little is at 



