1923] 
Studies in Asilidce {Diptera) 
207 
STUDIES IN ASILID^ (DIPTERA)^ 
By a. L. Melander. 
Pullman, Washington. 
While the June-August issue of Psyche, containing a review 
of the genus Cyrtopogon, was in preparation a similar study by 
C. Howard Curran appeared in the Canadian Entomologist, 
April to October. In the paper in Psyche I described seven new 
species of Cyrtopogon, and Curran’s paper included twelve new 
species. This curious coincidence in the selection of a genus 
for review might have resulted in unfortunate additions to 
synonymy, but such is not the case, for among the nineteen new 
species described neither Curran nor myself chanced upon the 
same forms. 
Two reflections are pertinent in this connection. First, 
there should be some clearing house where investigators could 
report their intended activities and thus be notified if the field 
is preempted. Possibly the National Research Council will in 
time function in this capacity for all America, or better for all 
nationalities. With reference to my own studies twice before 
have other workers independently selected the same groups for 
review, referring to Malloch’s Agromyzidse and to Cresson’s 
Sciomyzidse, which papers were in the printers’ hands coincident- 
ally with manuscripts of mine. Second, the fact that two workers 
discover nineteen new species in a well-known genus of an eagerly 
sought family without conflicting with each other shows that 
much more is still to be done in systematic dipterology than we 
are wont to realize. 
With regard to the two new genera described by Curran 
both have a slender, tapering, third antennal joint with long 
style. Comantella was established for two species, cristata 
Coquillett and fallei Back, hitherto assigned to Coj)hura, and 
because fallei was regarded as the same as Cyrtopogon maculosis 
Coquillett the last-named species was designated as the genotype. 
^Contribution from the Zoology Laboratory of the State College of 
Washington. 
