LAPHRTA. 47 



Epistoma barbatum. Oculi reraoti. Proboscis valida, brevis, por- 



recta aut obliqua. AlaB incumbentes. Abdomen segmentis 8. 



Pedes ssepissime validi, spinis annati. 

 Mas. Anus biungulatus. 

 Fcem. Ungulis analibus nullis. 



Body narrow, cylindrical, of large or of middle size, most often 

 bristly. Crown and front impressed. Kpistoma armed with bristles. 

 Eyes remote. Proboscis projecting, horny, short, stont, very sharp, 

 horizontal or oblique. Antennae porrect, approximate at the base, 

 erect; third joint developed, long, distinct from the succeeding joints, 

 which arc very small or obsolete; fourth seated on the tip of the third. 

 Wings incumbent, parallel, llalteres uncovered. Abdomen cylindrical, 

 with 7 or 8 segments. Legs stout ; tibia3 and tarsi armed with bristles 

 and spii; 



These flies are all carnivorous, and are the most powerful and 

 generally the largest of the Diptera. They destroy Coleoptera, 

 and ////' '/, as well as the insects of their own class, and 



are most frequent in woods and sandy situations ; their flight is 

 silent. The larvae are apod, smooth, cylindrical, and undergo 

 their metamorphose in the earth or in decayed wood. The genera 

 may be thus divided : 



f not stylated 1. LAPHRIA. 



with onychia : J 

 Antennae | 



1 stylated : f closed before the border . . 2. ASILUS. 

 Mediastinal 

 areolet ( 



oblique . . 3. DASYPOGON. 

 open to the 

 border : 

 Proboscis 



horizontal . 4. DIOCTRIA. 



^ without onychia 5. LEPTOGASTER. 



Genus I. LAPHRIA. 



LAPHRIA, Mg. kl. (1804) ; Fb. ; LL; Fin.; Mq.; Z1L; Ct. ; Lw. 

 Asilus p., L. ; Fb. ; Dg. ; Gm. ; Shr. ; Pz. ; Hbst. ; Gfr. 



Corpus magnum, robustum, oblongum, hirsutum. Color niger, hirsutie 

 nitente, interdum albescente vel flavescente. Proboscis porrecta. 

 Antenna inarticulate, non stylatte ; articulus tertius obtusus. Areola 

 mediaztinalis clausa. Onychia conspicua. 



