No. 1.— SAHCOl'HAdlDAK OF NKW KXCI, AM ): M \I,KS 
OF TIIF CFNFKA KA\ INIA AND iU)FT'l'( IIFKIA.' 
By RALPH R. PARKER. H. S. 
iNTKonrCTION. 
Thk fiiinily Sarcophagidai- is represented in New Enj^land hy 
several genera. Of these it was the original intention of the writer 
to deal with Sareophaga only, suppo.sing that the majority of our 
species would fall under that head, but as the work developed it 
became evident that certain species heretofore assigned to that genus 
and material which perhaps for lack of a better place, collectors had 
grouped with it, did not belong there at all. For this reason, the scope 
of the paper has been somewhat broadened and it now includes three 
genera: Ravinia Desvoidy, Boettcheria, n. gen., and Sarcophaga 
Meigen. Species occurring in New York and New Jersey are included, 
as very likely to occur in New England though not known to at present. 
The subject will be presented in two parts, of which the present paper 
is the first and deals with external anatomy, other general considera- 
tions, and the species of the first two genera; the second will take up 
the genus Sarcophaga. It is the hope of the writer to prepare later 
a third part which will include the remaining genera. 
Of the genera here treated, Ra\inia was described by Desvoidy 
in 1863; Dr. Bottcher (Deutsch. Ent. Zeitschr., 1913) considers it 
a subgenus of Sarcophaga. After carefully examining the American 
species it is the author's opinion that the generic rank given by Des- 
voidy was justified. Four species are described, one previously 
assigned to Helicobia (not recognized here) by Coquillett, and three 
that are new. Boettcheria is a new genus founded to include three 
species, which in essential characters, distinctly differ from those of 
Sarcophaga. The latter includes between twenty and twenty-five 
species, and is used in the restricted sense of more recent European 
workers. 
Considering the large number of species that are found in the United 
States, this family has been sadly neglected by American writers for 
> Contribution from the Entomological Laboratory, Massachusetts Agricultural 
College. 
