256 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



vein, connecting it with the third (but not as strongly curved as in 

 Lordotus); beyond this cross-vein, its curvature is stronger than in 

 Lordotits, so that the expanded distal end of the marginal cell bulges 

 out beyond the end of the first submarginal cell ; three submarginal cells 

 formed by a cross-vein connecting the second vein with the anterior 

 branch of the third very near its base ; the first of the two exterior 

 submarginal cells almost crescent-shaped, in consequence of the curva- 

 ture of the veins forming it; small cross- vein about the middle of the 

 discal cell, and hence the first basal cell much larger than the second; 

 the bifurcation of the second and third vein takes place a little before 

 the middle of the distance between their common root and the small 

 cross vein ; these two veins become at once distinctly divaricate (and 

 not approximate and parallel for a considerable distance, as in Bomby- 

 lius and Systcechus); the rest of the venation as in those two genera, — 

 that is, anal cell open, etc. 



Pantarbes, in Greek, means full of fear. 



Pantarbes CAPiTO n. sp., $ $. — Body grayish-black, densely clothed 

 with whitish gray pile ; beard white ; wings grayish-hyaline, the ante- 

 rior half for about three-quarters of the length infuscated. Length 

 6-lO mm . 



Front and lower part of the head and occiput densely clothed with 

 snow-white pile; upper part of front with a fringe of long black hairs, 

 which extend some distance downward along the orbits of the eyes ; 

 vertex likewise with a bunch of black hairs. Antennae: first and sec- 

 ond joints yellowish ; the third black. Halteres yellow. Femora black, 

 densely beset with white scale-like hairs, and some longer pile ; tibiae 

 and tarsi reddish, the latter black toward the tip. The brown color of 

 the wings extends from the root to the end of the first longitudinal 

 vein, and a little beyond the small cross-vein; it gradually fades away 

 posteriorly; anal and axillary cells hyaline. 



Sab. — Sonoma County, California, April 27 to May 9; not rare. Nine 

 males and one female. The latter is, of all the specimens, the smallest; 

 its wings are less infuscated at the base; the beard round the antennae 

 is somewhat yellowish. In flying, this species frequently alighted on 

 the soil. 



Comastes nov. gen. 



Venation, antennae, and proboscis of a Bombylius, but general outline 

 of the body and the character of the fur of pile upon it entirely differ- 

 ent. Dead larger: thorax much longer; abdomen, on the contrary, 

 smaller; the outline of the body more parallel, less ovate ; scutellum 

 much larger; hind legs longer. The hair on the epistoma is less long 

 and bushy, more recumbent, which gives the large, broad head, especi- 

 ally when seen from above, a totally different appearance. The fur on 

 the thorax is dense, but shorter than in Bombylius, more like that of an 

 Eristalis ; that on the abdomen is as long, but less erect and less 

 evenly distributed than in Bombylius. 





