No.413.] ABERRANT PHORID.£ FROM TEXAS. 
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they are in no way related to them, nor, on the other hand, 
did he consider them to be Phorida. 
His third genus, which he leaves without a name, had been 
previously named in his honor by Cook ('98). 
The most important characters of the Stethopathidz, as 
defined by Wandolleck, are the total absence of wings and 
halteres, the strongly reduced thorax, very small eyes, large 
coxa, and small external genital organs of the female.! 
Recently Wasmann has described a genus of termitophilous 
Diptera (00a) which agrees with the Stethopathidz in all essen- 
tials, except that they possess rudimentary wing-like appendages 
and a slightly larger thorax. These are characters that would 
not warrant the erection of another family for their reception. 
Moreover, the presence of rudimentary thoracic appendages 
places them still closer to the Phoride. 
The two Texan genera approach the true Phoridae even more. 
closely, since one of them possesses both halteres and rudi- 
mentary wings, and both have the large macrochzte of the 
body hairy, a character which Wasmann has pointed out as 
distinguishing the Stethopathide and Phoride. In both of 
these forms the abdomen is almost completely membranous. 
The African genus Psyllomia, however, has an abdomen of the 
true phorid type, while it agrees with one of the new genera, 
Commoptera, in having rudimentary wings, as well as in the 
Structure of the head. The external sexual organs of the 
female are so clearly of the phorid type that they present no 
important deviation. 
Through these forms we can pass without any great gaps 
from the Stethopathidae to the Phoride, and as such is the 
case, the family Stethopathide is certainly untenable, and the 
genera hitherto placed there, together with Psyllomyia and the 
1I have not considered the form of the mouth-parts in Wandolleck's three 
genera, which he believes to be entirely different from those of the Phoridz and 
all other Diptera. He himself says, however, that Dahl, who has spent much 
^ time in studying the Phoridz, considers them as phorid mouth-parts. He says: 
“Ich zeigte die Zeichnungen Dahl, der sich seit Jahren mit Phoriden bescháftigt, 
er erkannte sie sofort als Phoridenmundtheile an. . . .” I think Wandolleck 
must have exaggerated the extent and importance of the variation in the mouth- 
Parts, for the two Texan genera have typical phorid mouth-parts, often, however, 
shrunken and distorted in alcoholic specimens. : 
