lift KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



dilated, wholly without pseudo-tracheae, and are covered on the out- 

 side with small pointed spines springing from a small eminence. This 

 part seems almost functionless, so far as independent action is con- 

 cerned. 



It is in the suctorial organs that the characteristic Asilid structure 

 is observed, and one which is remarkably constant in the family, and 

 very different from that found in any of the related families."^ The 

 paraglossae are partly aborted, and serve simply to cover over the 

 basal portion of the ligula. They present a shallow concavity, with 

 the lateral margins turned down, and the anterior extremity rounded. 

 Their paired origin seems to be indicated in the elongated chitinous 

 plate on each side; no other indication is present, however. The 

 ligula is peculiar, and it was not till after repeated sections and dis- 

 sections that I felt sure of the identity. Lateral and top views of this 

 organ, together with distal and proximal cross-sections, are given in 

 the accompanying plates. The basal portion is dilated and concave, 

 and widely open above, and is exactly covered in life by the short 

 paraglossae. Immediately beyond this portion, the organ contracts, 

 and the folded margins above come in contact, or nearly so, to the 

 extremity. The canal thus formed is large, as is seen in the figure. 

 The upper margins of the tube bear a row of rather firm, short, back- 

 wardly directed hairs. It will be seen in the figures that the palpifers 

 lie close by the side of the ligula, and in such a position that pressure 

 toward the inner side would tend to close the canal more firmly. In 

 shape, the ligula varies somewhat in different species, being sometimes 

 very slender, at other times more fusiform. 



LITERATURE. 



1. Bigot, J. F. M. — Ann. Soc. Ent. France, (3), v, pp. 70, 537, 



1857- 



2. Brauer, Friedrich.^ — Characteristic dtr mit Scenopinus ver- 

 wandten dipteren Familien. Denkschr. d. math.-nat. Classe d. k. 

 Acad. d. Wissensch. xliv, pp. 104, 107, 1882. 



3. Brauer, Friedrich. — Systematisch-zoologische Studien. Sit- 

 zenb. d. k. Acad. d. Wissensch. 1885, pp. 390-392. 



4. CoQUiLLETT, D. W. — Systematic Position of Apiocera. Psyche, 

 1885, pp. 243-244. 



5. CoQUiLLETT, D. W. — A new Rhaphiomidas from California. 

 Western Amer. Scientist, 1891, pp. 84-86. 



6. DiMMOCK, George. — The Anatomy of the Mouth-parts and of 

 the Sucking Apparatus of some Diptera. Boston, 1881. 



* So different are these parts from the corresponding organs in other flies that they 

 led Professor Smith into an error. The lacinia are entirely absent in the Asilids as well 

 as all other families here described, as in fact also in the male Tabanid. 



