112 
Psyche 
[Sept -Dec. 
The lengthened head and much flattened, nearly wingless body 
enable the insect to glide swiftly in the dense, coarse plumage, 
where it can grasp a firm hold with the unusually strong legs 
and the long, deeply split claws. The many long stiff hairs cov- 
ering body and legs also help the fly to adhere to the feathers, 
endowing it with the properties of a burr. The obsolescence of 
the thoracic sutures is the result of the disuse of the wings and 
is not directly useful to the insect. The same is true of the 
reduction of the eyes and the loss of ocelli, which seem to be 
sequels to the loss of the power of flight. 5 
Brachypteromyia fimbriata (Waterhouse) 
Anapera fimbriata Waterhouse, 1887, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 
p. 164, fig. (on p. 163) (Fort Wingate, New Mexico, off 
“ Cypselus melanoleucus ” = Aeronautes saxatilis Wood- 
house; no sex given, but evidently 2 ). Shufeldt, 1887, The 
Ibis, (5) V, p. 157, footnote; 1894, The Auk, XI, p. 186. 
Aldrich, 1923, Insec. Insc. Menstr., XI, p. 78. 
Brachypteromyia fimbriata Speiser, 1899, Wien. Ent. Zeitg., 
XVIII, p. 202, footnote; 1900, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, XL, 
p. 555. Bezzi, 1916, Natura, Riv. Sc. Nat., VII, p. 179. 
Austen, 1926, Parasitology, XVIII, pt. 3, p. 359 ( 2 type, at 
the British Museum). 
Brachyptomyia fimbriata Speiser, 1907, Ent. News, XVIII, p. 
104. 
Brachypteromia fimbriata Aldrich, 1907, Tl. New York Ent. 
Soc., XV, p. 6. 
Myiophthiria fimbriata Ferris, 1928, Pan-Pacific Entom., IV, 
p. 140, figs. 1-2 (2 $ ; Tuba, Arizona; off Aeronautes mel- 
anoleucus ” = Aeronautes saxatilis). 
Brachypteromyia jemorata Williston, 1896, Ent. News, VII, 
p. 185 (3 ; Wyoming; off u Macropis melanoleucus ” = 
Aeronautes saxatilis ). Bezzi, 1900, Rendic, 1st. Lombardo 
Sc. Lett., (2) XXXIII, p. 522. Aldrich, 1905, Cat. North 
Amer. Dipt., p. 656. 
the return of the host. Both swallows and swifts often seek the same nest 
several years in succession. 
6 1 am indebted to my friend Dr. James P. Chapin for valuable information 
concerning the habits and adaptive features of swallows and swifts, in so far 
as they may have influenced the evolution of their parasitic flies. 
