SCUDDER ON FOSSIL INSECTS. 757 



rather short, naked, tapering style, scarcely longer than the fiagellum 

 proper and bluntly pointed ; in several specimens in which this part is 

 pretty well preserved, this is invariably its character, and no teriniual 

 thread can be seen in any of them, nor any indication of joints in the 

 style; this brevity of the style seems to be peculiar. As far as the 

 neuration of the wing can be made out (there must remain some doubt 

 upon this point until better examples are discovered), the coarse of the 

 auxiliary vein cannot be determined; the first longitudinal vein appears 

 to end before the middle of the costal border ; the second originates 

 abruptly from the middle of the first longitudinal vein, and terminates 

 (certainly) only a little way before the tip of the wing; the third runs 

 very nearly parallel to the second longitudinal vein, terminates at the 

 tip of the wing, and is perhaps connected by a cross-vein with the 

 fourth longitudinal vein scarcely within the extremity of the first longi- 

 tudinal vein ; the fourth longitudinal vein originates from the ftfth or 

 sixth a little before the origin of the second longitudinal vein, diverges 

 rapidly from the third beyond this connection, and is arcuate, carving 

 upward again before reaching the posterior border and running out- 

 ward to the outer border ; the fifth longitudinal vein curves still more 

 strongly from the fourth, until it reaches the middle of the posterior 

 border, to which it suddenly drojjs, and scarcely above which it is united 

 with the fourth longitudinal vein by a long, oblique cross-vein. The 

 femora are stout, the front pair largest at the base and tapering, the 

 other iDairs subequal throughout, all armed externally above and below 

 with a row of very delicate, nearly straight spines, the upper row per- 

 haps wanting on the middle femora, and the lower row developing into 

 longer and stiffer bristles on the apical half of the fore femora. The 

 tibise are equal, a little longer than the femora, considerably slenderer, 

 but still rather stout, furnished alike with several straight, longitudinal 

 rows of minute spines, and on the outer side with three or four distant, 

 moderately stout, longer spines (less prominent on the fore tibise than 

 on the other legs), and at the tip with a cluster or several similar spines 

 or spurs. The tarsi are very much slenderer than the tibise, longer than 

 they, the other joints slenderer than the metatarsus, all profusely 

 armed with exceedingly delicate spines or spinous hairs, arranged reg- 

 ularly in longitudinal rows ; at tip is a pair of very slender, pretty long, 

 strongly curved claws, and apparently a pretty large pul villus. 



The brevity of the antennal style, the length of the first longitudinal 

 vein of the wing, the approximation of the middle transverse vein to 

 the base, the strong arcuation of the fourth longitudinal vein, the 

 obliquity of the posterior, large, transverse vein, and its approach to the 

 posterior margin, the bristly nature of the legs, and the length and com- 

 parative slenderness of the tarsi — all, excepting parts of the neuration, 

 characters open to little question — render this fly peculiar and its exact 

 location somewhat dubious. When, however, the neuration of the wing 

 is sufficiently well known to enable us to understand more definitely 



