Kansas University Quarterly. 



Vol. I. JANUARY, 1893. No. 3. 



On the Apioceridse and their Allies. 



BY S. W. WILLISTON. 



With Plates IX and X. 



Since the appearance of Baron Osten Sacken's papers (22, 23) on 

 the Apiocerinae the past year, in which he iterates his former opinions 

 concerning this group, and in which he criticises papers by me, I 

 have, as opportunity has presented itself, subjected my material to a 

 careful study. The conclusions reached at this time are wholly in 

 consonance with those previously held by me — conclusions agreeing 

 well with those sustained by the eminent entomologists Mile and Brauer. 

 The material which I have had for study has been, I think, more 

 varied than any that has been previously studied, and offers new and 

 pertinent facts bearing upon the discussion. I have spent much time 

 in the careful dissection of the mouth-parts of this and allied groups — 

 parts to which previously almost no attention has been paid by sys- 

 tematists, but which, I am sure, offer a rich and almost unutilized field 

 for systematic research. My attention to their importance was first 

 directed by the able and suggestive paper published by J. B. Smith 

 on the mouth-parts of diptera (26), and I shall follow up the subject 

 in other groups as opportunity permits. The conclusions reached 

 from their study bear out in an ofttimes striking way the relationships 

 indicated by more external characters. I am aware that objections 

 have been made to the use of characters which can only be ascertained 

 by the sacrifice of specimens ; but I have always held that facts are 

 more valuable than specimens, and do not hesitate to destroy those 

 which will reveal their secrets in no other way. I regret that my 

 material has not been ample enough to permit sectioning, but I believe 

 that the dissections will be sufficient for the present purpose. 



I have to thank Mr. D. W. Coquillett for kindly furnishing me with 

 two of the very few specimen? that he possessed of RhapJiiomidas, a 



(101) KAN. UNIV. QUA«., VOL. J., N0.3, JAK., 1893, 



