150 . General Notes. [February, 
thirteen; Ist joint, short, thick, truncate, 2d, short, oval; in color both are of a 
dark amber; 3d joint equal to the two preceding taken tae, See color yellowish- 
i usky ye ish-bro bla 
yellowish with black tips. Zhorax small. esothorax aay abruptly above the 
narrow th, shining, black and grooveless, but under a one-eighth 
nifier presents ‘a minutely crackled surface, with a few scattered white hairs. 
Scutellum smooth, rounded and ee, from 38 ane portion of the mesothorax 
a broad, shallow | and highly polished groo Wings small, hyaline, veins 
duck mown, heavy; the subc ae a rm. its stie length, anaglet: large, w ae 
define radial area long eto open egs dark shining brown, with pa 
valtowish joints. Addomen Getpedinations: smooth, black, polished; in dry aeett 
mens truncate by the insheathing ve oh last three segments ‘within the others 
Length, .11. Length of wings, 
Described from 12 ieeiniede all females, in my collection.— 
H. F. Bassett, Waterbury, Conn. 
Tue “YeELLow Fever F y.’—In the last number of Psyche 
(September, 1880), Dr. H. A. Hagen gives some references to a 
fly belonging to the genus Sczara, which has been dubbed the 
“ Yellow Fever Fly,” bisadecatets judging from the context of 
the article, because it has n observed to swarm more par- 
ticularly during yellow fever spies: The larve of this genus 
of flies are well known to feed upon the humus in soils and other 
decaying vegetable matter, and it is more than probable that the 
conditions which favor the development of the yellow fever also 
favor the development of these flies. We certainly cannot con- 
ceive any other ps between the insect and the disease. 
Based upon a list of swarms of Diptera by Prof. Weyenburg in 
swarms sufficiently dense to appear, at a short distance, like 
sm 
The following unpublished letter received by us, with speci- 
mens, from Mr. S. S. Rathvon, of Lancaster, Pa., nearly twelve 
years since (March 22, 1869), also refers to flies of this genus: as 
recorded in the American Entomologist (1, p. 186): 
“T enclose a quill containing some Dipterous insects, which . 
received a few days ago from a friend in Bethlehem, Pa. e says 
they came out of the cracks between the floor boards, in July, in 
one of the upper rooms of a new addition built to their seminary, 
in millions. He counted five thousand on a single window, partly 
flying and partly running up the panes of glass. What seemed 
remarkable to him was that not one was seen in any other part of 
the house. Whilst living the wings were iridescent, but after 
death they lose this color. Pips the end of August, last year, 
I had a partition fence painted on my premises, when the whole 
surface became covered with millions of little flies, with iridescent 
wings, very similar to these, and perhaps the same species. 
confess that I know nothing about their name or history, although 
I have often noticed them adhering to newly painted buildings 
during spring and summer. What are they ?” 
