It is gratifying to learn tliat btrt few Brorvn-tail Nloths'nests are to be found in tliis vicinity this spring, as compared rvith the nttmber found last year at this time. In the lrorst infested orchards last year where too nests were taken, not more than 4 or 5 are to be found this year. While they rvere very thoroughly picked last year, it is hardJy to be expected that that is the entire cause for the decrease this year. N'Iost of the nests examined last year did not seem to be in a healthl' condition-the larvm were very stupified and many were dead, btlt I am sorry to say that all that I have opened this spring are very lively and apparently ready for business. As this is not frr from the northern boundary of tl-re Brolvntaii N'Ioth area, it is interesting to note that we have had one year of a decided decrease in their numbet's. Tlyo years ago not t'nore than 2o nests were found in Gardiner, last year about 2,ooo lvere gathered il, atld this year zoo would, perhaps, be a fair estimate.-A. '1. RevmoLDS, Gardiner, I'Iaine. l'he trso species of Robber Fiies here described as nerY were collected by N'Iessrs. R. V. Harvey and I{. S. Sherman, rvho reside in Vancouver, and who have seut in many other interesting species of Diptera' In one of his annual publications Dr. Fletcher has adopted t['re plan of reporting interesting captures of insects from the various sections of Canada, and it is notable how many of those reported in r 9o5 and r 9o6 rvere taken in British Columbia. The insect fanna of the Province soon will be fairly well known if the dozen or morc resident collectors maintain their present interest in the matter. Success to their efforts.Co!/tura albosetosa, n. sp. -Black, Frc. 7.-Side^view of the head and anthorax covered rvith gray dust, abdomen tetr.a of cophtLra albosetosa' shining blue-black, with white spots on tire sides of the segrlents, u'ings brownish-hyaline, body and legs clothed with white bristles and hairs. Length, 7 to 9 mm. Jrtne, r9o8
Chrysops fulvistigma, n. sp—Female. Palpi yellowish, antennæ slender, first segment yellowish, slightly darker at apex, second and third segments brown, annulate portion nearly black. Face shining black, covered next the eyes and on the anterior parts of the cheeks with yellowish-gray pollen. Front yellowish-gray pollinose, callosity and region surronding the ocelli, shining black. Thorax dark, nearly black, with grayish pollen above, giving the impression of stripes before the suture; coxa, basal two-thirds of femur and base of tibia of anterior leg, and nearly the whole tibia and base of tarsus of middle leg, yellow; remainder of legs dark, nearly black. Wing alomost hyaline, costal margin from base to apex, and a narrow cross-band abbreviated behind pale brownish, stigma conspicuously brownish-yellow.
All of the species treated in this paper except Sericomia cynocephala were collected by the Katmai Expeditions of the National Geographic Society. Full accounts of the insect collections of these expeditions are being prepared for publication, but as it is desired to refer to some of the species in other papers these descriptions are published in advance of the final report. Chilosia platycera n. sp. Male and female shining black. General form of the body elongate and rather slender. Vestiture of the body mostly pale, scutellum with a marginal row of slender black bristles, eyes naked, antennae yellow, aristas dark, naked; legs largely black, apex of each femur yellow, "tibiae and tarsi partially yellow; wings pale yellowish hyaline. Length •5-7 mm. Female: Eyes bare, face and front shining black; front largely pale pilose, but with a few black hairs intermixed, face below the antennae concave, facial tubercle rather prominent, much nearer the mouth than to the base of the antennas. Antenna wholly yellow, arista dark, nearly black, bare, third segment unusually large, only slightly longer than wide. Thorax wholly shining black with short, pale, pile rather sparsely distributed. Scutellum with a few slender marginal bristles. Wings pale yellowish hyaline, halteres and squamae pale, nearly white; legs in large part black, narrow apex of each femur, base and apex of each tibia and second, third and fourth tarsal segments on all the feet yellow. Abdomen shining black all over, pilosity short and pale grayish in color. Male: Colored like the female, frontal triangle with long black pile, antennae yellow, third segment decidedly smaller than in the female, pilosity of the body rather long and conspicuous, especially along the side margins of the abdomen, abdomen entirely shining, slenderer than in the other sex.
The limits of the subgenus Atylotus as restricted by Osten–Sacken are not easy to determine. The presence or absence of the ocelligerous tubercle is the character which gives most trouble, for in some species it seems to be absent in the female and present in the male, and one could convince himself without a great amount of imagination that in some species it is present in one specimen and absent in another of the same sex. the type of the subgenus is bicolor, and associated with it are other equally peculiar species whose characters place them at once in Atylotus. They are small forms in which the usual banding of the eyes is lacking, as are also the frontal callosity and subcallous. The wings are glassy, transparent, resembling those of some other Tabanids when teneral.
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