194 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [September, 



An opportunity was recently afforded the writer to examine 

 specimens of Psychoda cinerea, which were described by Mr. 

 Banks, from Long Island, N. Y. In 1897 the writer described 

 a psychodid from Washington as Psychoda pacifica. At the 

 time it was recognized that the latter was closely allied to 

 cinerea, and careful comparison leads to the conclusion that the 

 differential characters are not sufficiently stable to warrant its 

 retention as a distinct species. It is evident that we have in 

 this case an example of a very widespread and variable species, 

 with a range extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 

 from California to Alaska. A careful comparison of P. ciyierea 

 with the common European forms, P. phalaenoides Linne and 

 P. albipennis Zetterstedt, would be of interest, as although 

 probably not identical with either of these the relationship is 

 evidently quite close. 



Pericoma ocellaris Meigen. 



Some time since Dr. Hough sent the writer specimens of a 

 psychodid collected by him in Maine. Since it differed from 

 the described American forms, it was at first supposed to be 

 new to science, but it was subsequently found to agree in all 

 except a few superficial details with the European Pericoma 

 ocellaris Meigen. This latter species has several striking pecu- 

 liarities, the most remarkable being certain secondary sexual 

 characters. In the male the basal joint of the antenna is 

 greatly elongated, forming nearly one- third the entire length 

 of this organ, the second joint is large and globular, while the 

 third joint bears near its apex an oval scar, from which arises 

 a dense sinuous tuft of hair. In the female the basal joint is 

 of more normal length and the tuft of hair is absent from the 

 third joint. 



The principal difference between the American and European 

 forms is in the arrangement of the hair patches upon the 

 wings and other superficial details. Hence it has been decided 

 to distinguish the American form as follows : 



Pericoma ocellaris var americana n. var. 



$. Length 2 mm.— Body brown, clothed with brown hair, except 

 upon the dorsal arc of the thorax, which bears a dense vestiture of long 

 white hair. Wings ovate, more than twice as long as broad, apex bluntly 



