LAPHRIA. 47 



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



recta aut obliqua. Ala3 incumbentes. Abdomen segmentis 8. 



Pedes saepissime validi, spinis armati. 

 Mas. Anus biungulatus. 

 Fcem. Ungulis analibus nullis. 



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

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

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

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

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

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

 Wings incumbent, parallel. Halteres uncovered. Abdomen cylindrical, 

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

 and spines. 



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

 generally the largest of the Diptera. They destroy Coleoptera 

 and Hymenoptercij 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 striated 1. LAPHEIA. 



with onychia : J 

 Antennae | 



{ stylated : ( closed before the border . . 2. ASILUS. 

 Mediastinal 

 areoleU 



oblique . .3. DASYPOGON. 

 open to the 



border : 

 Proboscis 



I 



horizontal . 4. DIOCTRIA. 

 without onychia 5. LEPTOGASTER. 



Genus I. LAPHRIA. 



LAPHBIA, Mg. kl. (1804) ; Fb. ; Ll. ; Fin.; Mq.; ZU. ; 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 porrecfa. 

 Antenna triarticulata, non stylatce ; articulus tertius obtusus. Areola 

 mediastinalis clausa. Onychia compicua. 



