100 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XII, January, 1958 
Since Bigot’s time this species has not been 
recognised. Length of body 11 mm. Locality: 
"Australia.” Type probably in Bigot’s col- 
lection. 
From the Latin and French descriptions we 
can extract the following characters: Black, 
sparsely greyish haired, some long hairs on 
the underside of abdomen and on the femora 
and tibiae; sides of face with golden hairs; 
beard white. Wings broadly black, almost 
hyaline at base. Flalteres pale. Femora and 
tibiae at base narrowly yellow (or only the 
posterior tibiae have the yellow basal spots). 
Apical part of tibiae and underside of tarsi 
with golden-reddish pubescence. Pulvilli yel- 
low. Margin of 2nd-4th tergite yellow. 
Without examination of the type it is diffi- 
cult to identify this species; close relationship 
to L. variana White is evident. 
Laphria niveifacies Macquart 
Laphria niveifacies Macquart, 1849. Dipt. 
Exot., Sup. 4: 73. 
Laphria niveifacies Ricardo, 1913. Ann. and 
Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) 11: 156. 
Laphria niveifacies White, 1916. Roy. Soc. 
Tasmania, Proc. 1916: 167. 
Laphria niveifacies Hardy, 1917. Roy. Soc. 
Tasmania, Proc. 1917: 66. 
Laphria niveifacies Hardy, 1929- Linn. Soc. 
N. S. Wales, Proc. 54: 358. 
Laphria niveifacies Hardy, 1934. Ann. and 
Mag. Nat. Hist. (10) 13: 521. 
The type is apparently lost, as it could not 
be found in the Paris Museum. 
Macquart ’s specimen was stated to be from 
Tasmania, but the species has not since been 
found there. Hardy, 1934, doubted the cor- 
rectness of the locality record and supposed 
that the specimen came from Sydney, but my 
own experience has shown that Macquart’s 
data about Tasmanian species were correct; 
Hardy’s failure to find some species in Tas- 
mania is not evidence that they are absent 
from Tasmania. 
This species seems to be very closely re- 
lated to L. maur aides sp. nov. 
Laphria leei sp. nov., $ 
Belongs to the group of species with wholly 
black legs and wings, closely related to L. 
maura sp. nov. 
Body black with a slightly bluish sheen, 
the usual greyish dust on head and underside 
of thorax almost completely lacking. Below 
bases of antennae, two-thirds up the height 
of the face there is a very distinct cross furrow, 
sharply separating the upper third (Fig. 4a). 
Sides of face with a narrow stripe of whitish 
hairs, bristles on the disc of the face (mous- 
tache) are long, black, but not very numerous. 
Fig. 4. a, Head of Laphria leei sp. nov. b , Head of 
Laphria maura sp. nov. 
Proboscis long, black, shining, compressed 
laterally, slightly longer than height of head. 
Hairs on occiput whitish, except for some 
black ones above, which, however, are com- 
paratively short and not as numerous as in 
other species. 
Mesonotum dull, without grey markings, 
scutellurn shining, with a row of sparse, com- 
paratively weak, shortish marginal bristles. 
Disc of mesonotum without bristles. Pleurae 
dull, with some short whitish hairs. On the 
tubercle in front of halteres is a bunch of 
numerous, long, black bristles. Halteres yel- 
low. Wings black, only alula and a part of 
axillar cell are nearly transparent. Fourth pos- 
terior cell with the closing vein, slightly con- 
vex and forming a very acute angle with m 2 . 
Legs black, shining, with bluish or violet 
reflection. Pulvilli yellowish. Hairs very short, 
mostly whitish; bristles comparatively weak, 
short and not as numerous as in other species. 
