116 
Psyche 
[June-Sept. 
Family Syrphidae 
By F. M. Hull 
University of Mississippi 
One species of Syrphidae is contained in the collection of 
fossil insects from Creede. This belongs to the Recent genus 
Platycheirus. The only other reference to fossil forms of 
this genus is that of Pongracz (1928, p. 190), who places 
here two species from Oeningen, originally included by Heer 
in Syrphus. I examined Pongracz’s specimens in the British 
Museum and found them to be poorly preserved. 
Platycheirus persistens n. sp. (Fig. 3) 
Male. Length 10.0 mm. ; of abdomen and scutellum 6.0 
mm. ; of wing 7.2 mm. ; second specimen, length 10.0 mm. ; 
thorax and abdomen 6.2 mm. ; of wing 8.8 mm. 
Head: hemispherical, obviously narrower than thorax. 
Eyes narrowly dichoptic. Face dark in color. No details 
of antennae visible. Thorax: dark, though very little 
pigment is preserved, and no details of pile can be seen. 
Scutellum semicircular, the margin evenly convex, the width 
about one and three fourths greater than the length. 
Abdomen: slender, the sides not quite parallel, but slightly 
convex, leaving the middle segments barely wider. The first 
segment juts beyond the rim of the scutellum by a fifth the 
latter’s length. Second and third segments of nearly equal 
length, the former the longer. Fourth segment slightly 
shorter than third. Fifth segment two fifths as long as the 
preceding one. Hypopygium prominent and smoothly 
rounded. The segments are marked with brown. The pos- 
terior two-fifths of the second segment with a median wedge, 
pointing to and reaching the anterior border, and similar 
pattern on the two succeeding segments, the brown of the 
posterior border on the fourth segment occupying nearly 
the whole of the posterior half. The fifth segment is clear. 
Legs: slender. For the most part, they are not well pre- 
served, but one set of tarsi, apparently the left hind tarsi, is 
well preserved and shows decided expansion and thickening 
of the joints. Wings: poorly preserved. 
