I4& Indian Museum Notes. £VoI» IV. 



11. THE BQT-FLY OF THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 



At a meeting of the Mathematical and Natural Science Section 

 of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna held on 2nd July 

 1896, a communication was made by Professor Friedr. Brauer to the 

 effect that, in conjunction with Herr Anton Handlirsch and with the 

 courteous co-operation of Herr Alois Kraus, Inspector of the Imperial 

 Menagerie at Schonbrunn, he had succeeded in breeding out the 

 oestrid of the Indian elephant {Cobboldia elephantis, Cob.), which 

 was hitherto known only in the larval state. Since it is the inten- 

 tion of Professor Brauer to furnish fuller details later in a special 

 memoir, he contents himself with giving the following short diagnosis 

 of the genus and species in the perfect condition :— 



Genus COBBOLDIA, Brauer. 



Head vesicular, with strongly projecting front. Antennae ex- 

 tremely prominent, owing to the large hatchet-shaped third joint 

 with fine and bare arista. Beneath the antennae a very broad and 

 deep heart-shaped antennary pit, without a septum, extending to the 

 oral margin ; therefore the facial ridge very short between the facial 

 ano-les (" Vibrissenecken''). Oral cavity deep, the rudiment of the 

 proboscis fairly well developed, as in Cephenontyta, with large 

 claviform palpi. Face and cheeks shining, bearing tubercles 

 ("schwielig"). Ocelli present, eyes bare. Thoracic suture complete. 

 Wino-s large. Apical transverse vein present, posterior transverse 

 vein nearer to the angle of the third vein than to the small transverse 

 vein ; angle of the third vein V-shaped, without projecting stump ; 

 first posterior cell open. Alula of moderate size, squamae very large. 

 Clavi and pulvilli moderately large. Legs slender, short ; first tarsal 

 joint as long as all the others put together. Abdomen elongate, 

 oval, in the male with forceps-shaped hypopygium tucked under it ; 

 in the female the ovipositor straight, telescopic, chitinous, divided 

 into four segments (when protruded half as long as the body). 

 Ventral plates triangular, separated from the dorsal ones by a broad 

 membrane. Fifth plate cleft in the male. Macrochaetae absent. Hypo- 

 pleurae with a row of hairs. 



Spec. Cobboldia elephantis^ Cob. 



Gastrophilus elephantis, Cob. olim (from the larva), Trans. Linn. 

 Soc, 1881. 



Cobboldia elephantis, Brauer (from the larva), Wien. ent. Z 

 1887. 



