246 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Sept., '06 



puddle could not have been algae, it might have been bacteria 

 or protozoa. 



The larvae (see fig.), are remarkably hairy, the first not so 

 much so as the later stage. I think that they molt three times 

 but am not sure, as they molt in their houses and eat their 

 shed skins. 



The adults emerge from the pupa case rather slowly as com- 

 pared with some of the other gnats, which come out like a flash. 



The eggs are in a slightly irregular, rounded mass of gelatin, 

 with a thread of gelatin attached. The mass is about one-quar- 

 ter inch in diameter. The eggs are about 200 in number and 

 do not seem to have any regular arrangement in lines. They 

 lie mostly with the small ends turned toward the centre of the 

 mass, the outer ends being about one-quarter the distance from 

 periphery to center of mass. 



Some new Larridae from Nebraska. 

 By Harry S. Smith, Lincoln, Neb. 



Tachysphex punctulatus n. sp. 



$. — Length 7 mm. — Anterior margin of clypeus very slightly curved 

 outward, a blunt, obtuse tooth at each side, which is scarcely noticeable ; 

 clypeus, excepting the margin, very strongly convex, and with a few 

 large, widely separated punctures, shining ; sides of face and front with 

 medium sized shallow punctures, the spaces between them with exceed- 

 ingly fine ones ; vertex with punctures a little more widely separated ; a 

 narrow impunctate depression or line extending from middle ocellum to 

 the two supra-antennal tubercles ; depression behind ocelli deep, some- 

 what linear ; space between eyes above at closest place about equal to 

 antennal joints 2 and 3 ; second joint of flagellum about one-fifth longer 

 than first, remaining joints gradually shorter ; mandibles medially and 

 spot on scape beneath, rufous ; sides of face with silvery pubescence. 

 Dorsulum finely punctured, depressed anteriorly, punctures becoming 

 more sparse posteriorly ; scutellum convex, sparsely and distinctly punc- 

 tured, shining ; postscutellum with punctures closer, metanotum finely 

 granulated, metapleura minutely indistinctly striate ; posterior face of 

 metathorax with very fine striae and a longitudinal balloon-shaped depres- 

 sion, point downward, over which a narrow transverse carina, on a level 

 with the upper surface of the metanotum, projects. Legs black, apical 

 joints of tarsi testaceous ; comb of anterior tarsi with the bristles arranged 

 in groups near the apices of the joints, one group for each joint, about 16 

 bristles altogether ; tibiae and tarsi spinose, middle ones most strongly so. 

 Abdomen dark red, apical segments almost black, broadly margined with 



