78 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 5 1 



Hcmyda {Ancylogaster) aniuita Bigot. — It is highly probable 

 that this is a good species. It may even be a good genus. Bigot 

 states that the second antennal joint is longer than the third. If it 

 develops that the second joint in Bigot's type is strongly elongate, 

 more so than is aurata, that is to say more elongate as compared 

 with the first joint (not the third), then it is likely that Ancylogaster 

 should be retained. 



Genus Penthosia van der Wulp 



Penthosia satanica Bigot.— In this species the fourth longitudinal 

 vein is slightly rounded at bend, and often bears a very short stump 

 which can not be considered as the prolongation of the fourth vein 

 beyond the apical crossvein, since no wrinkle is present in its ab- 

 sence. It always points straight away from the bend, like the stem 

 from the arms of a Y, and is to be regarded perhaps as indicating 

 an original sharp bend of the vein back upon itself for a short dis- 

 tance, the two approximated parts having later coalesced, finally dis- 

 appearing more or less completely. The writer knows of no other 

 tachinid which exhibits this peculiarity in the same degree. 



Genus Cercomyia Brauer and von Bergenstamm 



Synonyms are Uromyia Meigen (preocc.) and Neouromyia 

 Townsend, nom. gen. now (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, December, 1891, 

 p. 382). 



Subfamily Gvmxosomatix.e 



Genus Gymnosoma Meigen 



The following description of the external anatomy of the male 

 abdomen will be of interest as throwing light on the taxonomic posi- 

 tion of the genus. 



The male of Gym. fuliginosa Robineau-Desvoidy has six abdom- 

 inal segments besides the genitalia. The first segment is very short, 

 and its width is equal to about one-half the greatest width of abdo- 

 men. It consists below r of a small, much shortened, subquadrate, 

 basal ventral plate, w 7 ide in front and somewhat incurvate on front 

 edge where it joins metathorax, rapidly narrowed posteriorly, its 

 hind margin much shorter than its front margin. The second ven- 

 tral plate is a smaller replica of the first, its front edge being the 

 same length as the posterior edge of first, its sides converging pos- 

 teriorly on same lines, its posterior edge being correspondingly 

 shortened. The first and second ventral plates together thus appear 

 much like a right-angled triangle in outline, with the hypothenuse 



