ORTALIDAE — INTRODUCTION. 2T 



generally ; forms such as Camptoneura picta Fab., Trypeta arcu- 

 ata Walk., T. albovariaW&Yk., T. excepta Walk., etc., are certainly 

 no Trypetidae ! In Walker's later publications, the systematic 

 confusion is still greater. As far as I can ascertain, among the 

 genera published in the latter, Adrana, Brea, Valonia, are Or- 

 talidae ; the two latter belong in the vicinity of Platystoma. The 

 genera Themara, Strumeta, Sophira, and Rioxa belong to the 

 Trypetidae. The genus Xangelina is closely related to Physo- 

 genia, perhaps identical with it, and hence, has to be placed 

 among the Sapromyzidae. The position of the genus Xiria re- 

 mains doubtful, even in the presence of Westwoo.d's figure ; it 

 shows some characters which make one doubt that it belongs to 

 the Diptera aciphorea at all. The genera Duomyia and Chro- 

 matomyia, which, taken together, seem to correspond to Lam- 

 progaster Macq., and Zona, which is apparently identical with 

 Loxoneura, are Ortalidae ; Walker, in the List of Dipt. Ins. 

 etc., has erroneously placed them among the Tachinidae, together 

 with Trigonostoma, which likewise belongs to the Ortalidae (how- 

 ever, he corrected this error in one of his later publications.) 



(e.) In Bigot, Gerstaecker, Doleschall and Saunders. 



In recent times it is to Bigot and Gerstaecker that the increase 

 of our knowledge of exotic diptera is principally due. 



The genera Terastomyia, Maria, Agastrodes, and Pterogenia, 

 established by Bigot, belong to the Ortalidae. Elassogaster like- 

 wise, although placed among the Helomyzidse by Bigot, must be 

 referred to the Ortalidae. His genus Elaphromyia, on the con- 

 trary, if description and figure be correct, belongs to the Try- 



Gerstaecker has established the ortalideous genera, Phytalmia, 

 Gorgopis, Toxotrypana, and Diacrita, and described several new 

 species of Richardia and Mischog aster. Phytalmia has a syno- 

 nym in Saunders's genus Elaphomyia {Elaphomyia Wallacei 

 Saund. = Phytalmia megalotis Gerst. ; Elaphomyia cervicornis 

 Saund. = Phytalmia cervicornis Gerst.). The genus Gorgopis 

 seems, as the author himself supposes, to be synonymous with 

 Zygaznula paradoxa, described somewhat earlier by Doleschall. 

 If in the genus Toxotrypana the outer row of frontal bristles is 

 really wanting, and it thus should really belong to the Ortalidae, 

 the not flattened ovipositor of this genus would place it in the 



