1896.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 215 



The following papers were read and accepted by the Committee for 

 publication in Entomological News : 



A New Species of Tropidia (SyrphidsB) and Note on the Generic 

 Position of IVIelanostoma rufipes Williston. 

 By W. D. Hunter. 



(Assistant in Entomology, University of Nebraska.) 



NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF TROPIDIA. 



I. — Antennae black, or nearly so, posterior coxae of male without spur, 

 dorsum without pollinose markings, scutellum without yellow 

 border; third antennal joint of moderate size. Abdomen with 

 two small reddish spots on anterior corners of the second and 

 third segments; venter largely red. Legs black, nigricornis n. sp. 



Antennae yellow, or at most reddish brown 2. 



2. — Posterior femora of male at base with a strong process, four anterior 

 tibiae yellow. Abdomen with two interrupted bands; antennae 

 light ochraceous. dorsum shining blackish bronze . . mamillata. 



Posterior femora of male without such basal process 3. 



3. — Antennae very large, posterior coxae of male with large obtuse spur. 



calcarata. 



Antennae moderate, not reaching the epistoma 4. 



4. — Scutellum with yellow margin, face covered with pollen; middle and 

 anterior tibiae yellow; dorsum of thorax with median pollinose 



markings quadrata. 



Scutellum without yellow border, face shining black. Legs black; 

 dorsum without median pollinose markings incana. 



Tropidia nigricornis n. sp. — Front and vertex shining black with short 

 yellow pile, longer on the vertex; frontal triangle in male silvery sericeous, 

 face in both sexes opaque, less densely sericeous. Face indistinctly ob- 

 liquely wrinkled, sharply carinate, in male vertical below the antennae, in 

 female distinctly concave; antennae black in the female, tinged with red- 

 dish in the male; third joint of moderate size, subquadrate, usually ob- 

 liquely truncate on the outer side; dorsum of the thorax blackish bronze, 

 shining, without pollinose markings, covered with short reddish yellow 

 pile; pleurae shining, sparsely grayish pilose; scutellum shining black. 

 Abdomen in the female shining black, with a pair of small reddish spots 

 on the anterior corners of the second and third segments; posterior mar- 

 gins of the segments except the first, whitish; last segment short, whitish 

 pilose. In male as in female, except that more or less of segments one, 

 two and three, are opaque. Legs black; middle and anterior knees yel- 

 low, all the tarsi slightly tinged with brownish; posterior femora with the 

 usual process, coxae without spur. Wings hyaline, projecting beyond the 

 tip of the abdomen; venter, except part of first and last segments, bright 

 blood-red (in unfaded specimens). Length 8-8. 5mm. 



