HELOPHILTJS.— MALLOTA. 



00 



black spots in front. The females of the first variety agree pretty well with the 

 description given in my 4 Synopsis ' 3 . Those of the seconcl variety have the abdomen 

 wholly black, save the narrow hind margin of segments 2-4, with three pairs of grey 

 lunules ; the second segment narrowly shining on the sides, the third more broadly ori 

 the sides and behind, the fourth wholly, except the small spots in front of the lunules. 

 The legs in the first variety, in both male and female, have the hind tibia? wholly red, 

 thus agreeing with II. bicolor (Bigot) ; those of the second have the tip somewhat 

 darker. 



Now, of the four forms which Bigot had, the first (II. bicolor) is represented by the 

 first variety ; the second (II. oculiferus) by that described by me in the 1 Synopsis ' 3 ; the 

 third (II. flamcaudatus) by the second variety ; ancl the fourth (H. nigroscutatus, the 

 locality for which is not given by Bigot 9 ) presents such slight differences that it is 

 scarcely worth mentioning. Of all these, //. flavicaudatus alone is, I think, entitled 

 to a name, whether varietal or specific. Macquartfs original II. mexicanus seems to be 

 the same as Loew's H. jpolygrammus and Bigotfs II. oculiferus. 



The generic characters given by Bigot for Asemosyrphus are very inadequate ; at the 

 same time, he overlookecl the only really important structural variation that the species 

 presents, viz. the remoteness of the ocelli from each other. That Bigot mistook the 

 sex of his specimens is surprising : the hypopygium is not at all concealed. 



MALLOTA. 



Mallota, Meigen, Syst. Beschr. iii. p. 377 (1822). 



Synopsis of tlie Central-American sjjecies. 



1. Third joint of tlie antennse elongate oval championi, sp. n. 



Third joint of the antennse as broad as long 2. 



2. Abdomen shining red, with similarly coloured pile smithi, sp. n. 



Abdomen deep black 3. 



3. Abdomen clothed with black pile throughout sackeni, Willist. 



Terminal abdominal segrnents with bright orange or yellow pile . . margarita, sp. n. 



1. Mallota(?) championi, sp. n., j. 



Eyes pilose ; third joint of the autennse twice as long as wide ■ abdomen shining bronze, with yellow pile ; 

 wings brown in front. Eyes narrowly contiguous. Frontal triangle and face shining black, the former 

 with black, the latter with yellow, pile. Antennae brownish-red ; third joint elongate oval, obtusely 

 pointed. Afesonotum subopaque blackish-brown, elothed with moderately long, abundant, light yellow 

 pile, which, however, does not obscure tho ground-colour ; a tuft of bright, sulphur-yellow pile on the 

 outer end of the suture and upper part of the pleurae. Pleurae black, nearly bare. Scutellum obscure 

 yellowish, with yellow pile. Abdomen shining metallic bronze ; second segment, except the sides a»3 

 hind margin, and a very small spot on the front of the third segment, opaque black ; clothed with abun- 

 dant, erect, light yellow pile. Legs yellow; femora, escept the tip, black; hind femora moderately 

 incrassate ; hind tibise curved and compressed. Wings nearly hyalinc ; brown along the fore part, the 

 costal cell and the base of the marginal ecll more yellow. 



Length 11 millim. 



