Canadian Entomologist ■ VOLUME LI 1 1. No. 9 CONTENTS. Morris — {Life-History of à Hobby (Horse. Part III 193 Tothill — {Revision of Nearotic Species of Tachinid iGenus Ernestia 199 Alexander — -New Species of iCranelFlies from North Queensland . . 205 Bowman — Additions to Check List of Macrolepidoptera of Alberta 211 Wells & Metcalf — A New Species of Oak-Gall and its Maker . . . . 212 / Malloch — North American Species of the Anthomyiid Genus Hebecnema 214 Book Review — Rterophoridae of North America 215 Corrections . . 216 editor: DR. J. McDUNNOUGH ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA Editor Emeritus: REV. C. J. S. BETHUNE September., 1921 GUELPH: THE GUELPH HERALD LIMITED 1921 J V. v. r . The Topley Company Ottawa Canadian Representatives Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. Will Corporation Rochester, N. Y. Laboratory Equipment Microscopes ■ For Sale Perfect examples of Argynnis nokomis while they last at $2.50 per pair, or $1.00 each for extra females.' M. D. PROVOST, 1003 Arlington Avenue, DAVENPORT, IOWA GRASSELL I BRAND ARSENATE LEAD— Paste and Powder BORDEAUX MIXTURE-Powder CALCIUM ARSENATE— Powder LIME SULPHUR SOLUTION Represent THE HIGHEST STANDARD in SPRAY CHEMICALS The Grasselli Chemical Co. Limited HAMILTON TORONTO MONTREAL >$5) g ' NOTICE : ÀI1 articles for publication and correspondence relating to them should be addressed to the Editor: DR. J. McDUMOUdH, Entomological Branch, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa. Remittances for fees and subscriptions and all other bus- iness communications should be addressed to: — THE ENTO- MOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO, Guelph, Canada. EXCHANGES Subscribers are invited to make liberal use of this column. Notices over three lines are liable to be shortened if necessary. All insertions free to subscribers. WANTED — 'Cynipidae and their galls from all parts of the world. Western and Southern material particularly wanted. For cash or exchange. Wm. Beutenmuller, Box 2S8, Highwood, Bergen Co., New Jersey. FOR EXCHANGE — Mounted Macro and Micro Lepidoptera from this •locality. Fred Marloff, 118 Oak Ro.ad, Mt. Oliver Branch, Pittsburg, Pa. WANTED — To purchase living material, especially ova or live females of any species of the genus Apantesis (Arctiidae). Dr. E. T. Learned, 1 Fall River, Mass. LEPIDOPTERA from South America, Morpho men elans, rhetenor, hecuba, etc. Papilio agrias. Wholesale only. Ed. Allen & Co., St. Jeandu-Maroni, French Guiana, South America. WANTED — Micro-Lepidoptera from all parts of N. A.; write first | what you have; cash or exchange. Clarence T. Wood, 98 North Street, Fairport, Monroe Co., N.Y., U.S.A. HALTIGINI wanted in exchange for Coleoptera or other orders. — L. G. Gentner, Dept, of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., U.S.A. JAPANESE and Formosan Butterflies in Exchange for those from any part of the world. S. Satake, 48 Aoyama Minami-Machi, 5-Chome, Tokyo. OMOPHRQN and EEAPHRUS desired, in numbers, including the common species. Good exchange given. H. F. Wickham, Iowa City, Iowa. WANTED — Species of Rhynchophora from Eastern North America not represented in my collection, in exchange for duplicates from Indiana and Florida. Lists of desiderata and duplicates on application. W. S. Blatchley, 1530 Park Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana. BRACHYNUS wanted from any part of North America. Cash or exchange. J. W. Green, 520 McCartney Street, Easton, Pa. j| CLERIDAE wanted from any part of the world for cash or in ex- change for any insect material from Sumarta. — J. B. Corporal, Holland, The Hague, Pieter Bothstraat 39. LEPIDOPTERA — Will purchase or give good western species in exchange for Western Canada Noctuids. Pacific Coast species preferred, i C.has. A. Hill, 1601 Sierra Bonita Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. WANTED — 5-800 Sarnia columbia living cocoons; communicate with Edward Sasek, 760 East 160th Street, New York, N. Y. COLEQiPTERA — Common species of this region in exchange for Coleoptera or Lepidoptera from any part of the world. Correspondence invited. Basil E. Montgomery, Poseyville, Ind. ' CYNIPIDAE — Galls or the bred makers desired, to determine or I for exchange. Also want to buy a copy of Das Tierreich XXI V, Cynipidae. Alfred C. Kinsey, Bloomington, Ind. J r Catocalae Wanted For cash, Ova, Larvæ as well as the Imago of species of the genus indigenous to Canada. HIGHEST PRICES paid for ova with parent moth. I invite correspondence with collectors who are willing to collect material for me. Address: George J. Keller 488 Clinton Avenue Newark, N.J. Entomological Supplies • m © • Nature Study Equipment 9 © • • Microscopes & Accessories • © © • Mounting & Pressing Papers a Specialty mu Y SCHOOL EQUIPMENT LIMITED, 615 Yonge St., Toronto. ÜLIt# (üattaitmtt: t&niixMixltiÿfai Vol. LIII. GUELPH, SEPTEMBER, 1921. No. 9 POPULAR AND PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGY. The: Life: History of a Hobby Horse, by Francis j. a. morris, Peterborough, Ont. Part III. — Second Chiedhood — The Tree's Incline. I suppose one reason why people do not transplant well in middle life is that they never cease to miss the common sights and sounds of their native land ; snatched away from daily contact with the environment in which they have grown and spread until they come to fill every nook and cranny of it, they sud- denly find themselves wrenched from a thousand rootlets that ministered unseen to their life needs ; starved of their sap from root to stem, they lose their lusty vigour, languish along their branches, and pine away in leaf and flower and fruit. It is impossible to feel at home anywhere until you have become thor- oughly familiar with your surroundings ; this power of adaptation, shared by us with all things living, is strictly limited, and if the change is too violent or the organism too far set in maturity, acclimatization becomes impossible. Not the faintest idea had I when I came to Canada at twenty-five year} of age that my comfort and happiness depended mainly on familiarity with a whole little world of natural objects, to which I had grown so used as to be quite unconscious of their presence. The web that at infinite pains arid with pro- longed effort I had woven for myself, at whose centre I swung cradled in con- tent was suddenly swept away by the rough hand of circumstance ; I was flung bodily to an infinite distance, to find myself sprawling hopelessly on the ground ; instinctively I set all my spinnerets franctically to work rebuilding the orb without which life itself was impossible, and groping feverishly for fresh points of attachment. All the years I had lived in Great Britain, I had never approached Nature by way of Science ; though roughly familiar with the broader distinctions of family, I knew next to nothing of genus and species, and had never studied the classification of either Flowers, Insects, or Birds ; my knowledge was purely empirical, and for the most part I was quite unconscious of the points of distinc- tion in form and structure that must surely underlie our recognition of individual forms. I was therefore powerless to identify what I saw, unless by good luck it happened to have a next of kin among my acquaintance in Great Britain ; with every stranger I met along me roadside, I must turn (so like your stiff Englishman !) to my companions for an introduction, and then hunt him up in Burke’s Peerage or some other book of celebrities ; and I found to my sorrow on enquiry that such popular guides and illustrations of the Ontario flora and fauna were unprocurable. In little old England, which you could set afloat in Lake Superior, for a century or better, authorities more numerous almost than the entire population of Canada had been publishing descriptions as accuiate as those of Scotland Yard, portraits as lifelike as Madame I ussaud s, that must infallibly lead to the apprehension of every flower, fern, insect and bird in the 194 l’UE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST British Isles, no matter how securely hidden it might fancy itself from the long arm of the Naturalist. I was as helpless as a child, and as full of curiosity, for I had just entered a new world full of novelties ; hundreds of flowers and insects that I had never seen before, flaunted their beauty in front of me at every turn ; scores of birds with strange plumage and unfamiliar cries met my gaze on every walk in the country ; and like a child, too, I wanted at first to know just their names, to have a simple label that I could attach to them, some definite word that I could hunt up in a book, and so round out my field, observations. It is not given to all to enter second childhood thus wide-eyed and men- tally alert, and for the sake of others who may be similarly placed or may want in adult life to enter on the study of Natural History, I wish here to record some of my early experiences as a stranger in a strange environment to which the senses of his neighbours had grown dulled from boyhood. And let me tell you, I found it far harder to learn the secret of the sights and sounds that met me than if I had been a child. The world of childhood and boyhood was for- ever shut to me, and often I found myself envying the youngsters who were pen- etrating such mysteries day by day, without conscious effort, by companionship with their fellows and the traditions of their kind. I was herded with the grown-ups and found most of them sadly ignorant and careless of the Natural life about them. It was when summer was already sinking into the lap of autumn, and within a fortnight of my setting foot in Canada, that I took up my quarters in Toronto preparatory to a 3-term session at the School of Pedagogy. Almost the first things that had struck me were the wonderful clarity of the air, and the lavish way of the sun in spilling whole weeks of blue unclouded summer days over the land. As we steamed up the St. Lawrence, I had noted with as- tonishment the sharp outlines and bright colours of the houses along the dis- tant shore, so different from the hazy indistinctness of an English landscape. On landing at the docks I had been taken through Montreal on a sight-seeing tour ; I can’t remember now what “Notre Dame” looked like either inside or out, but I know that the streets and sidewalks of the city were literally covered with grasshoppers, almost in the heart of the business section. About Toronto when you walked in the fields, every step you took squirted showers of these insects, as well as crickets and locusts, up at your face. It was as hard to steer a conversation safely through such elements as for a swimmer to breathe in a choppy sea, — you never knew when you were going to get a mouthful ; and often it was impossible to be quite sure whether your last ejaculation had been a word or an insect. After a little experience one learned to wade along in silence, glasses jammed close up to one’s eyes and mouth tight shut, like a ship running through heavy seas with port holes closed and hatches battened down. Ontario had been in the grip of a drought for five or six weeks, a very excep- tional thing, I was told ; but most of the twenty-five years passed in Ontario since 1894 have only gone to prove the rule of this exception. My walks that Fall were mostly in the direction of Rosedale, and all of them alive with wonders ; chipmunks and groundhogs, severally after their kind, came chattering and frisking forward with eager curiosity to meet the tender- THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 195 foot, went scurrying in shortlegged rippling bulk across the fields or stood stock still and bolt upright, “frozen” at the mouth of their burrow, the living counterpart of a neighbouring stump; acres of goldenrod and asters rioted beside the path ; goldenrod of the most beautiful curving plumes in place of the stiff homely spikes of the British species ; asters of every size and shade, from white and pale lilac to the rich violet and blue of the Michaelmas Daisy; butterflies that fairly made one’s mouth water, Swallow Tails and Fritillaries (Silver Spots), Camberwell Beauties (Mourning Cloaks), Tortoiseshells and Painted Ladies, fluttered and sailed and flew, a bevy of beauty; and mingling with them strangers of unmistakably royal blood (to judge from their robes'), Em- perors and Viceroys worthy of a front page in Burke’s Peerage; and then the birds ! In place of a single Green Woodpecker — rare ana local — I saw four or five kinds, all painted as gay as the Tropics, the Flicker, the Red Head, the Downy, the Hairy, and these, mind you, for all their gorgeous plumage, as common as sparrows, or poppies in a cornfield. To cap it all, my ears were filled from every side in the woods with myriads of strange sounds, tapping, creaking, chirping voices, call-notes and songs, as mysterious as Echo, and all clamoring for me to join their game of “I spy” and track them to their secret lair; the very heavens were full of sound, showers of soft twittering notes and sweet music fell about me in the open; Puck in the woods and Ariel in the sky, what a royal hide-and-seek they had with me that Fall! As we were were returning from Rosedale on one of these early trips, I called my companion’s attention to the barking of a foxterrier in the dis- tance; after locating the sound, he stared at me incredulously for a moment and then remarked scathingly : “A nice one you are in the country, and not know a crow when you hear it ! ” And a crow it proved to be, but how different, with its short, sharp, staccato challenge, 0f “câ, câ,” from the English rook and its lazy drawl of “caa, càa!” Two other birds I met that Fall for the first time in my life, the lovely Bluebird (a close kinsman of the English Redbreast) and the American Robin. This last I had looked eagerly forward to seeing for over a year ; ever since the day when I had joined in the laugh that went round my uncle’s dinner- table one Christmas at the expense of a cousin newly home from British Columbia. He had been regaling us with travellers’ tales of the strange land beyond the seas, and we had "all been devouring them with relish and perhaps a pinch of salt; till he came to this outrageous whopper, no more to be swal- lowed than Gulliver’s reported linnets from Brobdingnag as big as swans: “In Canada,” remarked my cousin wPh some pride, “our robins are as large as blackbirds.” “Yes,” countered my uncle drily, “and how large are your tur- keys, my boy?” It was only when I became a resident of Ontario that I discov- ered the robins were a red-breasted thrush ; and in the Spring it soon grew to be an exquisite pleasure to note the bird’s song, so characteristic of the thrushes, with its tell-tale bars “sung twice over,” as Aristophanes observed more than twenty-three centuries ago and Robert Browning somewhat later ; — and if you had no ears to hear, behold ! the dumpy fledglings, with the speckled breasts they bore, and the way they had with the garden worms, the quick little run over the lawn and the head cocked on one side to listen, thrushes every inch 196 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST of them, from the tip of the bill to the toes. During the winter I had made the acquaintance of Dr. Brodie and he had promised to take me out with him in the Spring ; unfortunately I was too busy between April and June to steal much time for Natural History. I was able, however, to make three or four trips in the doctor’s company and learn some- thing about the environs of Toronto. About the time of the Spring flights of warblers, we had a day at Victoria Park ; and later he took me over the Don flats to a wooded hill-side beyond the C.P.R. The trip I recall most vividly was my first visit to High Park. It was in June and our way led past the Grenadier Pond, and then west and north. I was greatly struck with the beauty of the scenery, the rolling downs, with their deep ravines, the groves of oak and pine, the underbrush and the richness of the vegetation, interspersed with bar- ren tracts of drifting sand. High Park became a favorite resort of mine and I came in later days to wander all over the district from Parkdale to Humberside and Lambton. We had taken insect nets with us, and in a heathy space dotted here and there with oaks I captured several butterflies ; they were nearly all quite strange, and it was then, I think, that there first came home to me the hopelessness of identifying species without good illustrated popular books of entomology ; it was all plain sailing as long as the doctor was with me, but I fully realised how helpless I should be alone- On our way back in the late afternoon, we heard a bird singing in a near-by oak, and stopped to listen. I had rarely heard more delicious music, though obviously of less range and richness than a nightin- gale’s ; it was certainly finer than the English thrush, I thought, and wilder like the Missel thrush’s, the bars often repeated in true throstle fashion, and with many interludes of those wonderful soft undertones when you knew the bird’s throat feathers would be gently ruffling above the breast ; the doctor thought it was a Hermit thrush ; it was certainly of the thrush family, for I caught a glimpse of it, large, brown, and with speckled breast ; I have since identified the bird from my recollection of the song, as the Brown Thrasher, and its choice of perch confirms this, almost at the top of a large oak, proclaim- ing itself to the world. Without either musical ear or knowledge of musical terms, I wish to put it on record that except from the English nightingale I have rarely heard more delightful music than this bird’s. It is quite a mistake to suppose that because poets have sung more wonderfully about the English skylark, the thrush and the nightingale, these bird-songs themselves must be far grander than those of On- tario ; the Brown Thrasher and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak are a match any day for their British cousins, and the Hermit Thrush is declared by such mas- ters as John Burroughs and Schuyfér Matthews to be more than the peer of the Nightingale ; it isn’t the Bird that is wanting, it is the Wordsworth, the Shelley and the Keats ; given the human soul whose chords respond to the birds’ in- effable sweetness, their tender melancholy, their world-old pathos and ecstasy of passion, and they too will be among the immortals. Another fallacy the faithful observer must expose, in spite .of poets’ pro- test, is what Ruskin calls “the pathetic fallacy, — to which we are all peculiarly prone in listening to the songs of birds ; we know, if we reason it out, that THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 197 there can be none of the rich content of human thought and the depth of human emotion behind those warblings ; yet as we listen the heart aches with infinite yearning, we are under the spell of enchantment and it sways our whole being. It is recorded somewhere how Shelley was rudely awakened from a dream of love once by the sight of his inamorata's healthy zest over a mutton chop ; he would have had the same revulsion of feeling in a Cambridge lane with me while listening to the Nightingale on a sunny day of June ; in the very midst of one of its divinest passages, its throat feathers stirring to the liquid melody, the bird stopped short and darted down to gobble a big grub, like the greediest fowl on wings — a prima donna and a glutton ! Soon after this trip to High Park, I went to spend the summer on Centre Island with some city friends, and at the close of the year was appointed to the staff of the Smith’s Falls High School, on the Rideau River, some fifty miles south of Ottawa. This was my first year in a country district and I hugely enjoyed meet- ing the natural conditions of an Ontario winter. Many a time as children in Scotland we had battled our way to school through blizzards of snow, had eagerly consulted the glass to see if “the black frost” was going to make the ponds bear, and one winter had twice seen with bulging eyes the mercury fall below zero. Sledges and skates had long vanished away, but again and again I found the experiences of this first real winter in Canada send my thoughts hark- ing back over fifteen years and more to the Perthshire home. It may have been this that made me more than usually homesick on the approach of Spring. I hungered for the sight of English hedgerows with sweet violets, primroses, hyacinths and half a hundred other familiar sights. I had forgotten for the moment all the novelties that had come in their stead, and this nostalgia lasted on all through the dreary days of March and early April, when nothing seems to be alive, and all the highways and byways stick up their effective “No Trespass” sign, daubed in inches of mud and slush. Another torture of Tantalus that aggravated my hunger later on was to be sent on some wild goose chase of eager anticipation, as when I was told of a bed of cowslips and found marsh marigolds, honeysuckle that proved to be columbine, Yellow- hammers that were Flickers ; I had even a childish disappointment over the “Daddy-long-legs” when it turned out a spider instead of a crane-fly. Our school had only three assistants, and it was practically Hobson’s choice for companionship’; the only man on the staff besides myself was the teacher of Science, and we had already fallen into the daily habit of walks to- gether long before the winter ended. The course of work for Science then in the Junior School was almost entirely Botany, and I watched with considerable interest his preparations for identifying flowers, an art till then wholly unintelligible to me. Half in a spirit of fun I rigged myself out with a little linen-tester for a magnifying-glass, a pair of small needles sunk over head and ears (if they had them) in the pith core of a lilac twig, and a copy of Spotton’s High School Botany ; in three days I had outstripped even the most eager of his pupils ; in a week the jest was deadly earnest, and in a month the zealot became a hopeless monomaniac. I still hated to pick the flowers to pieces, and the tedium of working out some of the 198 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST less attractive genera and families, like the Crucifers and the Composites, came' near to damping my ardour. Still I persevered, even resisting as a rule the terrible temptation to guess at the plant’s identity a priori , instead of working it out honestly by the key. I think my progress surprised even my foster parent the Science master, for I took to Botany as a duck takes to the water ; he hadn’t allowed enough for some of the main factors in the problem ; I had spent years in the English lanes and knew the household names of most of the familiar flowers ; Greek and Latin had become almost a mother tongue to me and a second nature, so that the botanical terms were full of meaning ; and, more than all, I burned with desire to gain “the freedom of the realm” ; ahead of me I could see summers full of glorious discovery in Ontario ; and when I had discovered America (botanically), I was determined to go over and discover Great Britain ; and never did Highlander with the gift of second sight see the vision of his own future more truly than I did that first Spring in Smith’s Falls. It w?s a case of Archimedes and his lever over again ; given Spotton (or Gray), I could move the universe — or at least stick labels all over it ; if an Afrite had dropped- me into the heart of some equatorial forest, I’d have wel- comed the chance and, bar cannibals, crocodiles and the tsetse fly, been as happy as a clam. That plants like animals had sex was a piece of common knowledge, but the analysis of a flower and the names and relations of its different parts were quite new to me. My first lessons were in this, and by taking a few leading types and separating their parts, identifying each of these and studying their mutual relations, I soon got the hang of the system. The very heart and centre of every perfect flower was an elongate hol- low body (the pistil) of complex nature, comprising below a vessel (the ovary) in which the unripe seeds (ovules) developed ; at the upper end of the ovary was a vertical extension in the form of a slender tube or hollow stalk (style) whose widened apex (stigma) served as a receptacle for the pollen-grains, which then passed down the style-tube into the ovary ; round this procréant cradle of the flower were grouped, like a body guard round their queen, a set of tiny stalks (stamens), each surmounted by a pair of little boat-shaped vessels (anthers) of pollen to quicken the ovules ; in turn about these two essential parts, — the queen and her consorts (pistil and stamens), were grouped usually two sets of leaf-like protective lobes known as the floral envelope ; the inner ring (corolla) of brightly colored lobes (the petals), and the outer ring (calyx) of green lobes (the sepals) ; if only one of these two rings occurred, whether green or brightly colored, it was called the calyx of sepals. According to the form of the pistil and the number and arrangement of stamens, petals and sepals, all flowering plants were arranged into two great divisions: I. those whose seeds in germinating sprouted into a single leaf (Mono- cotyledons), and II. those whose seeds sprouted into a pair of leaves (Dicotyle- dons.) The first class had nearly always straight or parallel veins in the leaves, and their flower parts in 3’s ; it included (a) Arrowheads, (b) Grasses, (c) Sedges, (d) Arums, (e) Rushes, (f) Lilies, (g) T rids, (h) Orchids. The second class had net-veined leaves and the parts of the flowers in 5’s and 4’s, occasionally 2’s. Of this class a small sub-division bore the seeds naked (i.e. THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 199 not enclosed in a capsule), like the pines ; but the vast bulk of them possessed ovaries or seed cases. These were arranged in three divisions (1) those with one or both of the outer rings (corolla and calyx) wanting (Apetalous) ; (2) those whose petals were not united to one another (Polypetalous) ; (3) those whose petals were united, whether altogether or only at the base (Gamopetalous) . In the first few weeks of Spring it was easy to keep pace with the pro- cession of flowers and assimilate the principles of the new science at the same time ; but in June and July the different kinds of habitat became so numerous and so crowded that one could not visit them all often enough to exhaust their denizens. However, in the course of two years, I knew nearly all in the neigh- bourhood, and it was only by going to a distance that I could add to my ac- quaintance ; but by a happy provision of Nature, when novelties ran, out, the pleasure of renewing old acquaintance out-beggared the joys of fresh discovery. (To be continued.) A REVISION OF THE NEARCTIC SPECIES OF THE TACHINID GENUS ERNESTIA R. D. (DIPTERA). BY JOHN D. TOTHILL. In Charge of Natural Control Investigations, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. . . While in Washington, D.C., in March, 1921, Dr. Aldrich suggested that a revision of the nearctic species of the genus Brnestia would be a profitable undertaking. The rich collection in the U. S. National Museum was placed at my disposal, and I had with me some material belonging to the Entomological Branch of the Dominion Department of Agriculture and some California material belonging to Mr. E. P. VanDuzee. It was soon found that the male genitalia afforded an excellent series of characters for separating out the species, and the revision was consequently based largely upon a study of males. When the males had been sorted out into sixteen species, it was found that the females could be sorted out into fourteen species. It was not possible in all cases to assign a male and female to each species, and as the male characters are more readily seen than the female ones, it seemed better to base the descriptions of new species upon males. Descriptions of twelve new species have been drawn up and also of such of the existing species that seemed to require a more ample description than has been published. Well known and easily recognizable species have not been redescribed. It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the cordial assistance given me by Dr. J. M. Aldrich, and also to express my sense of appreciation to Mr. Arthur Gibson, the Dominion Entomologist; Dr. L. O. Howard, the Chief of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology; and to Mr. A. F. Burgess of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology, for making the study in Washington possible. Mr. Charles T. Greene has been kind enough to make the drawings for this paper. The; genus Ernestia R.D. Brigone R.D. Myod. 65, 1830. Mericia R-D. Myod. 64, 1830. Platychira Rond. Dipt. Ital. Prod. 1859. V arichaeta Speiser, Berk ent. Zeit. 1903. Panzeria R.D. Myod., 69, 1830. 200 THiE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST Okanagania Tn. Can. Ent. 289, 1915. Melinocera Tn. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XXVIII., 22, 1915. The genus Brnestia was proposed in 1830 by Robineau Desvoidy for the reception of a single species that he called microcera. According to Bezzi (Kat. Pal. Dipt. 1907) the species microcera R.D. is a synonym of rud\is Fall, de- scribed in 1810 as a Tachina. As the species radis Fall, does not properly belong in the genus Tachina , it therefore becomes the type species of the genus Brnestia. The genus Fausta was proposed in 1830 by Robineau Desvoidy ‘for the reception of five species. In 1863 the same author designated nemorum Meig. as the type species of the genus. For reasons that will appear later, it seems that in spite of the wide parafacials, this species is closely related to the general- ized Brnestias , such as radis Fall, and radicum Fab. In order to preserve the sense of relationship with Brnestia and yet to bring out the difference between the two series, it seems advisable to treat Baasta as a subgenus of the genus Brnestia. The species described by Coquillett as Meriania chalybea is undoubtedly congeneric with puparum Fab. of Europe, a male and female of which — deter- mined by Bezzi — I have seen. The genus was proposed for species having the sides of the face hairy and otherwise resembling Brnestia s. str. Flairiness of the facialia in this group -is, however, of questionable generic value because Brnestia flavicornis Br. exhibits a marked tendency in this direction, especially in some specimens. Furthermore, the male genitalia in chalybea Coq. and in puparum Fab. also exhibit the same generalized features as do those of B. flavi- cornis. The best way to express this clear relationship seems to be to treat Meriania as a subgenus of the genus Brnestia for the inclusion of puparum Fab., chalybea Coq., flavicornis Br., and nigrocornea sp. n. These two subgenera, Fausta and Meriania , are evidently closely related, as shown by the generalized genitalia. In the known species they can be separ- ated by the presence of discal bristles on the second abdominal segment in Fausta and by their absence in Meriania; and by the presence of hairs on the parafacials in Meriania and by their absence in Fausta. An undetermined female Brnestia from Armstrong, B.C., in the National Collection at Ottawa has both hairy parafacials and discal abdominal bristles; if, when the male be- comes known, this proves to belong to the Faust a- Meriania group, it would show that these two subgenera could be treated more naturally as a single sub- genus. The genus Metaphyto was proposed by Coquillett in 1897 for the recep- tion of a single species, genalis Coq. This species has wide parafacials as in Fausta and genitalia that relate it to Brnestia arcuata et al. (See the discussion of this point later). The relationships will be fairly well expressed by treat- ing Metaphyto as a subgenus of the genus Brnestia. An examination of the type of Okanagania hirta Tn. shows the fly to be B. ( Metaphyto ) genalis Coq. Xanthophyto labis Tn. may prove to be an Brnestia when more is known about its habits. The yellow third segment of the antenna, the cloud over the radio medial cross vein, and the generalized condition of the male genitalia all THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 201 suggest a close affinity with E. flavicornis Br. Until the male is known, how- ever, and until the reproduction habit is established, there is not sufficient justifi- cation for linking the genus with that of Brnestia. In X. labis the chaetotaxy of the scutellum differs from that of all the known species of Brnestia. Pyraustomyia penitalis Coq. exhibits the same peculiar scutellum chaeto- taxy found in X. labis, and is probably not congeneric with Ernestia. In so far as is known, all the members of the genus Ernestia have the habit of depositing living maggots in the path of their host. Interrelations oe the Nearctic Species The nearctic species of the genus Ernestia differ from one another chiefly in the structure of the male genitalia — most of the species are in fact in- separable without reference to these organs. Arranging them in a series ac- cording to the degree of specialization of the genitalia, one can therefore gain some idea as to their immediate ancestry. The most generalized condition of the genitalia is found in E. flavicornis Br., E. nigro cornea sp. n., E. chalybea Coq., and E. frontalis sp. n., where the base of the inner forceps has developed no median keel-like projection. In arcuata sp. n., johnsoni sp. n., nigro palpis sp. n., and incisa sp. n. there is a well-developed keel-like projection. More highly specialized again are E. aldpichi Tn. and E. longicarina sp. n. in which the keel-like projection has become longer than in any .other known nearctic species. In E. platycarina sp. n. one margin of the carina has become flattened. In sulcocarina sp. n. the same margin has become grooved. In bicarina sp. n. the groove in the carina has developed to such an extent that a splitting has oc- . I ; > » l> jironta.Us ai'ttua.ca.Vvna. nigropalpis. <> ir feicarina,. cured so that there are two keel-like projections instead of one. Finally, in E. ampelus Walk., and in E. fissicarina sp- n., the two keel-like projections have become reduced into a pair of knob-like structures. From these facts the group would appear to be monophyletic. With the evolution of the keel-like projection in mind, it is possible to test the validity of the genus Eausta proposed for the reception of forms having the sides of the face abnormally wide. In the type species E. nemorum Meig., the keel-like structure is in the generalized condition found in E. flavicornis Br., E. frontalis sp. n., E. nigro cornea sp. n., E. rudis Fall, and E. radicum Fab. In the nearctic species genalis Coq., on the other hand, there is a well-developed unsplit median keel-like projection as in E. arcuata. It would seem, therefore, that Eausta is not a natural genus, as the species are less closely related to one another than to species in the genus Ernestia.' -An explanation that suggests itself is that in the evolution of the Ernestia group a widening of the sides of the face has taken place twice; first when the genitalia were still generalized, and secondly when a keel-like process had been developed. Such a relationship can be expressed by retaining 202 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST Fausta as a subgenus for the inclusion of the generalized nemorum Meig. and by retaining Metaphyto Coq. as a subgenus for the inclusion of genalis Coq. Relationships of the Nearctic and Palaearctic Species of the Genus Ernestia s. str. From an examination of five palaearctic species it would appear that while some of the nearctic species are very closely related to palaearctic species, yet there are perhaps no two species common to the two land masses- A more extensive study of the European material may, of course, serve to modify this statement. It may be of interest to point out the difference between the European species I have examined and their nearctic relatives. A male specimen of B. radis Fall., so determined by Bezzi, has no keel- like projection on the basal part of the inner forceps, and in this respect re- sembles B. flavicornis of Brauer and my B. frontalis. It differs from the for- mer in not having a bright yellow third antennal segment and from the latter in having the width of the front at the narrowest place equal to less than the length of the second antennal segment. A male specimen of B. radicum, so named by Brunetti, has a keel-like projection on the basal part of the inner forceps in such a rudimentary condi- tion that it can only be seen by careful scrutiny. It differs from B. flavicornis Br. in the color of the third antennal segment ; from B. frontalis in the notably shorter inner forceps of the male genitalia and from B. nigrocornea in the ' narrower facialia. A male specimen of B. connivens Zett., so named by Bezzi, is evidently very closely related to my ni gr opal pis and arcuata In nigropalpis , however, the tips of the outer forceps are laterally compressed so as to be bayonet-like in shape; and in arcuata the fifth tergum is much longer and more clearly defined. A male specimen, named B. consobrina Meig. by Bezzi, has a median keel-like projection on the base of the inner forceps that is split longitudinally into two halves, very much as in the case of my bicarina. In the latter species, however, the splitting process has been carried considerably further; and also each prong of the fifth sternite terminates in a short spine, which is not the case in consobrina. There is a male specimen from Shirmer, labelled “Berlin, Germany,” that has not been identified. It runs in my key to section 10 but it can be read- ily separated from all the nearctic species on account of the extraordinary length of the median keel-like projection on the base of the inner forceps. Distribution of the Genus Ernestia. Our knowledge of the distribution of the genus Brnestia in the Southern Hemisphere is too meagre to warrant any conclusion concerning the origin and development of the group for the whole world. For the Northern Hemis- phere, however, our knowledge of the distribution of the group is at least fairly complete. In his catalog of palaearctic Diptera, Kertesz lists twenty-three species, while for North America we now have sixteen species; consequently, palaearctic rather than a nearctic origin is indicated, although, of course, by no means proven. Further light is thrown upon this question by reference to the degree of specialization of the species in the respective regions. We have already THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 203 seen that the condition of a split keel-like process on the base of the inner for- ceps represents almost the highest achievement in the specialization of these flies. This condition is reached by B. consobrina Meig. in Europe and by B. bicarina sp. n. in America. It therefore seems certain that the split keel was achieved when a land bridge connected the two great land masses. It also fol- lows that the group achieved its greatest development during the period of the last land bridge. Indeed, the only development of any importance that appears to have taken place since the land bridge days is the reduction of the split keel found in the two American species, ampelus Walk., and fissicarina sp. n. ; and further studies of the palaearctic species may show even this slight specialization to have been an ancient rather than a modern achievement. As there are reasons for supposing that very few, and perhaps none, of the now extant species are common to the two land masses, it seems to follow that although the .nearctic and the palaearctic species have had a common origin during the land bridge period, yet a slight further development has been achieved in each of the now separated land masses during the recent period of isolation. Synopsis op the Nearctic Species in the Genus Ernestia R. D. Subgenus Meriania. chalybea Coq. flavicornis Br.. nigrocornea sp. n. Subgenus Pausta. No nearctic species known. Snbgenus Brnestia. frontalis sp. n. johnsoni sp. n. nigropalpis sp. n. arcuata sp. n. incisa sp. n. aldrichi Town. lonpicarina so. n. platycarina sp. n. sulcocarina sp. n. bicarina sp. n. ampelus Walk. fissicarina sp. n. Subgenus Metaphyto. genalis Coq. Key to THE- Subgenera oe the Genus Ernestia. 1. No discal macrochaetae on the second abdominal segment; parafacials hairy, at least in the females, especially on the upper part Subg. Meriania Discal macrochaetae present on the second abdominal segment; third an- tennal segment black ; parafacials never hairy, even on the upper part ? 2. Width of the parafacials not nearly equal to the length of the third anten- 204 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST nal segment Brnestia s. str. Width of the parafacials equal to the length of the third antennal segment, i.e., parafacials unusually wide 3 3. A median keel-like projection at the base of the inner forceps of the male genitalia, i.e.; genitalia specialized.... Subg. Metaphyto No such projection, i.e., genitalia generalized Subg. Fansta Key to the Nearctic Species in the Subgenus Meriania. 1. Third antennal segment black B. nigrocornea sp. n. Third antennal segment yellow or reddish 2 2. Width of front in male equal to less than the length of the second antennal segment; parafacials very hairy in the male B . chalybea Coq. Width of front in male equal to the length of the second antennal segment ; parafacials in the male hairy on only the upper part and the hairs very thin B. ( Meriania ) flavicornis Br. Key to the Males oe the Nearctic Species oe the Genus Ernestia s. str. 1. Genitalia yellow or rufous 2 Genitalia dark or black 3 A - - - 2. Width of the front at narrowest place less than the length of the second antennal segment; inner forceps with a short keel flattened on one edge platycarina sp. n. Width of the front at narrowest point equal to or greater than the length of the second antennal segment ; inner forceps without a keel and with two conspicuous projections placed side by side ampelus Walk. 3. Width of front at narrowest point fully twice as long as the second anten- nal segment 4 Width of front at narrowest point less than twice the length of the second antennal segment 6 4. Inner forceps with a conspicuous keel aldrichi Tn. Inner forceps without a keel 5 5. Base of inner forceps with two conspicuous projections placed side by side • . . fissicarina sp. n. Base of inner forceps without such projections frontalis sp. n- 6. The fifth sternite with a deep incision on the lateral margin of each of the two prongs incisa sp. n. The fifth sternite normal • • . . .7 7. The inner forceps with a pair of short keels placed side by side bicarina sp. n. The inner forceps with a single keel 8 8. The width of front as great or greater than the length of the second anten- nal segment johnsoni sp. n. The width of front less than the length of the second antennal seg^ ment ' .9 9. Palpi black; the fifth tergum scarcely distinguishable from the first genital segment with which it is united nigropalpis sp. n. Palpi reddish, at least at tip ; the fifth tergum clearly marked ofif, at least laterally by a suture from the sixth 10 10. Keel-like portion of the base of the inner forceps of unusual length, its dor- THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 205 sal edge not concave ; the apical portions of the outer forceps laterally compressed and each terminating in a pair of hooks. Jongicarina sp. n. Keel-like portion not of remarkable length, its dorsal edge strongly concave ; the apical portions of the outer forceps cylindrical and each termin- ated by a single hook arcuata sp. n. Key to the: Females oe the Nearctic Species in the Genus Ernestia. 1. Third antennal segment yellow Subg. Meriania Third antennal segment black Subg. Ernestia 2 2. Fourth abdominal segment rufous 3 Fourth abdominal segment black 4 3. Second antennal segment rufous ampelus Walk. Second antennal segment black. platy carina sp. n. 4. Second antennal segment yellow , 5 Second antennal segment black 8 5. Fifth sternite without a longitudinal groove or depression; tarsal segments of front legs cylindrical; bend of ; fourth vein with a well-marked appendage sp. a Fifth sternite with a longitudinal groove or depression ; tarsal segments of front pairs of legs flattened dorsoventrally ; bend of fourth vein with a very indefinite or with- no appendage ........ . . . 6 6. Fifth sternite with a deep longitudinal depression. ... r. ... .7 Fifth sternite with a very shallow longitudinal depression; sp. c. 7. The depression in the fifth sternite extending through the posterior mar- gin, fie. ; the posterior margin concave ; a short but distinct carina run- ning the full length of the depression. . sp- b. The depression in the fifth -sternite not extending through the posterior margin, i.e. ; the posterior margin straight ; no carina in the depres- sion. Vi v . . sp. d. 8. Front at the vertex as wide as either eye; the second, third and fourth but not the fifth abdominal sternites each with a group of strong, blunt, downwardly directed macrochaetae seen best in profile 9 9. Palpi coal black, ; ; nigropalpis sp. n. Palpi yellow, at least at tip 10 10. The fifth abdominal sternite with two parallel longitudinal grooves separ- ated by a shallow carina bicarina sp. n. The fifth abdominal sternite with only a single longitudinal groove or de- pression . • • 11 11. The fifth sternite longer than the fourth sulc ocarina sp. n. The fifth sternite shorter than the fourth probably johnsoni sp. n. (To be continued) NEW SPECIES OF CRANE-FLIES FROM NORTH QUEENSLAND (TIPULIDAE. DIPTERA). BY CHARLES P. ALEXANDER. Urbana, 111. The undescribed species of crane-flies that are characterized herewith were kindly sent to me by Dr. James F. Illingworth. Most of the material was 206 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST collected along the Babinda Creek, North Queensland. The difficulties in the way of collecting these insects in Queensland are well shown by the following paragraph from one of Dr. Illingworth’s letters : “Sweeping along streams is almost out of the question here in the tropics, where every bush is provided with recurved hooks to hold one up. I have torn a number of nets full of holes trying to do it and seldom make a catch. Most of the specimens I found either singly on the vegetation, in the scrub, or in caverns under the large rocks along the streams.” A few additional specimens were secured by Mr. Alan P. Dodd. I would express my indebtedness to Dr. Illingworth and Mr. Dodd for this interesting material. The types of the new species will be preserved in the writer’s collection. Genus Dicranomyia, Stephens. Subgenus Thrypticomyia, Skuse. The type of the subgenus is D. (7\) aureipennis (Skuse) (Australia). Other species belonging to this group are D. arcuata (Alexander) (Japan), longivena (Edwards) (India), seychellensis (Edwards) (Seychelles Islands) and probably saltens (Doleschall) (Oriental Region). Two additional undescribed species were included in the present material. Dicranomyia (Thrypticomyia) doddi, sp. n. General coloration dark brown ; thoracic pleura obscure brownish yellow ; tarsi largely white; wings with a distinct brown suffusion that is uniformly distributed over the wing surface; stigma large; supernumerary crossvein in cell Sc only a short distance before r. Male.- — Length 6 mm.; wing 5.8 mm. Female. — Length 5.5 mm. ; wing 6 mm. Rostrum obscure yellow ; palpi dark brown. Antennae dark brown. Head greyish brown. Mesonotum dark brown. Pleura obscure brownish yellow. Halteres long and slender, dark brown. Legs with the coxae and trochanters dark brown ; femora dark brown, slightly paler basally ; tibiae and about the basal one-half or slightly more of the metatarsi dark brown ; remainder of the tarsi white or faintly reddish white. Wings with a uniform brownish suffusion; stigma large, elongate-oval, dark brown; veins dark brown. Venation: Sc ending opposite the origin of Rs ; Sc2 pale, removed from the tip of Scj , the latter being about equal to the deflection of R A ; supernumerary crossvein in cell Sc a little more than the length of r before this latter crossvein; extreme tip of Rj atrophied;; inner end of cell 1st M2 slightly arcuated; cell 1st M2 about equal to vein M3 beyond it; basal deflection of Cu { near midlength of cell 1st M 2 . Abdomen dark brown. Habitat. — North Queensland. Holotype, <£, Gordonvale, June, 1920 (A. P. Dodd). Allotopotype, $. Paratopotype, <$. This crane-fly is dedicated to its collector, Mr. Alan P. Dodd. Its closest relative is apparently D. seychellensis (Edwards) which differs mainly ;n the coloration of the wings. THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 207 Dicranomyia (Tlirypticomyia) fumidapicalis, sp. n. General coloration dark brown ; thoracic pleura yellow ; legs dark brown, the tarsi largely white; wings hyaline basally, with about the apical fifth strongly infuscated. Male. — Length 6 — 6.5 mm. ; wing 6.7 mm. Female. — Length about 5.5 mm. Described from alcoholic specimens. Rostrum and base of palpus obscure brownish yellow; terminal palpal segments dark brown. Antennae dark brown, the flagellar segments with a short basal pedical and with long, unilaterally arranged verticils as in the males of this group. Head dark. Mesonotum dark brown, the median area of the scutum and the postno- tum paler. Pleura obscure yellow, the mesosternum infuscated. Halteres elon- gate, brown. Legs with the coxae and trochanters yellowish ; only the fore legs remain attached to the body; femora, tibiae and about the basal third of meta- tarsi dark brown; remainder of the tarsi except the terminal segment white; fore metatarsi with a small tubercle near the base. Wings hyaline with about the apical fifth strongly infuscated, this including almost all the wing beyond the level of the cord; stigma oval, still darker brown; veins dark brown. Venation: Sc before the origin of Rs, Ss2 ending just beyond the origin of Rs, Sc1 alone being a little longer than the basal deflection of Cux ; Rs long, arcuated at origin; r near tip of R4 ; cell 1st M2 long and narrow, longer than vein M3 be- yond it; basal deflection of Cux beyond midlength of cell 1st M2. Abdomen of male long and slender, dark brown ; sternites a little paler. Habitat. — North Queensland. Holotype, Babinda, August 7, 1920 (J. F. Illingworth)- Allotopotype, J. Paratopotypes, 2 JV. The apically darkened wings are very conspicuous. Subgenus Idioglocliina, subgen. n. Flagellar segments with the inner face strongly produced into flattened disks, giving a subserrate appearance to the antennae, the periphery of each disk with a series of about six spinous bristles. Wings with costa and radius greatly mcrassated ; r long, arcuated; cell Rx very large, due to the strong bending of R2+3 toward R4 + 5 near its origin. Type of the subgenus. — Rhipidia tusitala Alexander (Samoa). Dicranomyia de beauforti de Meijere (Papuan subregion) is also a mem- ber of this subgenus. Subgenus Euglochina, subgen. n. Wings very long and narrow, cuneiform, entirely without an anal angle ; Rs very short, about equal to the basal deflection of R4+ , originating far out toward the wing-tip, the cord lying beyond five-sixths of the wing-length ; cells beyond the cord unusually short and crowded ; vein 2nd A running parallel to Cu, at the margin separate or fused with the tip of Cu2. Type of the subgenus. — Dicranomyia cunciformis de Meijere. (India to Java). Dicranomyia connectons Alexander (Tropical Africa) is also a 208 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST member of this subgenus. Edwards (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 8, pp. 58, 59; 1911) has determined the Limnobia saltcns of Doleschall as falling in this group of species. Almost coincidentally, De Meijere (Tijdsch, v. Ent., vol. 54, p. 22; 1911) determined saltcns as being a typical member of Thrypticomyia Skuse. The habitus of the species of Buglochina is very distinct from that of T hryp tico myia . Genus Libnotes, Westwood. Subgenus Pseudoglochina, subgen. n. Tarsal claws simple, the basal enlargements provided with two acute bristles. Wings long and narrow, cuneiform, entirely without an anal angle; Rs short, straight; no -supernumerary crossvein in cell Sc, ; cell 1st M2 open by the atrophy of M3 . Type of the subgenus. — Libnotes pulchripes Alexander. Dicronomyia kobusi de Meijere and D. bicinctipes Brunetti of the Oriental region are likewise members of this group. In the opinion of the writer, the group is closer to Libnotes than to Dicranomyia but this whole series of genera and subgenera are very closely allied. Genus Geranomyia, Holiday. Geranomyia (Geranomyia) sagittifer, sp. n. Rostrum and antennae black; vertex silvery grey; general coloration of the thorax shining orange, the mesonotal praescutum with a median arrow- shaped black mark ; legs pale yellowish brown ; wings pale grey with five rather small brown costal markings, vein Sc long. Female. — Length (excluding rostrum) 6.5 mm.; wing 6 mm.; rostrum alone 2.9 mm. Rostrum and palpi dark brownish black. Antennae black. Head above silvery grey. Mesonotum shin> orange, the praescutum with a single arrow-shaped median black mark, the broad end behind, a short distance before the suture, the narrow end terminating slightly anterior to the level of the pseudosutural foveae. Thoracic pleura dull ochreous. Halteres orange, the knobs a little infuscated. Legs with the coxae and trochanters orange; femora brownish yellow; tibiae and tarsi light brown. Wings pale grey, the costal and subcostal cells a little more yellowish ; five comparatively small brown markings in the costal region, arranged as follows : at the supernumerary crossvein in cell Sc ; at origin of Rs ; at tip of Sc, ; at tip of R, and r, and at the end of the vein R? + 3 ; cord and outer end of cell 1st M2 very narrowly and indistinctly seamed with grey; veins brown. Venation: Sc long, Scx extending to just beyond the end of Rs, Sc2 at the tip of Sc, ; Rs long, angulated at origin, thence straight; cell 1st M pentagonally rectangular, widened distally, about as long as vein MJ+2 beyond it ; basal deflection of Cu , just beyond the fork of M. Abdomen dull orange-yellow. Habitat. — North Queensland. Holotype, Ç, Gordonvale, June, 1920 (A. P. Dodd). Paratypes , 3 JV, Babinda, October, 1920 (J. F. Illingsworth). Geranomyia (Geranomyia) nigronitida, sp. n. Head dark; mesonotum shiny black, the pleura yellowish; wings nearly THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 209 hyaline ; stigma small, brown ; Sc long, basal deflection of Cu l before midlength of cell 1st M9 ; abdominal tergites dark brown, sternites light yellow. Male. — Length (excluding rostrum) 6 — 6.4 mm.; wing 5.8 — 6 mm.; rostrum alone about 3 mm. Female. — Length (excluding rostrurp) 7.5 — 7.8 mm.; wing 6.5 mm.; rostrum alone about 3.5 mm. Described from alcoholic specimens. Rostrum elongate, dark brown ; palpi dark brown. Antennae dark brownish black. Head dark, grayish pruinose. Pronotum dark brown. Mesonotum shiny black, the humeral regions of the praescutum paler; in dried specimens the lateral margins of the prae- scutum may be slightly pruinose. Pleura obscure yellow- Halteres pale yellow- ish white. Legs with the coxae and trochanters yellow; remainder of the legs broken. Wings nearly hyaline; stigma small, brown; veins dark brown. Vena- tion: a supernumerary crossvein in cell Sc; Sc long, Sct extending to just before the end of Rs, Sc va short distance from the tip of Scj , the latter about equal to m ; Rs comparatively short, straight, about twice the deflection of Ri+5 ; inner end of cell 1st IVj2 slightly arcuated ; outer deflection of M3 a little longer than m ; basal deflection of CUj before midlength of cell 1st M2 , much longer than Cu2 alone. Abdominal tergites dark brown, especially in the female ; sternites light yellow. Habitat. — North Queensland. Holotype, g , Babinda, August 7, 1920 (J. F. Illingworth). Allotopotype, 2 • Paratopotypes, 4 6* ? • Genus Molophilus, Curtis. Molopliilus unispinosus, sp. n. General coloration sulphur-yellow ; vertex with a brown spot ; mesonotum light chestnut ; male hypopygium with three pleural appendages on either side, the longest a cylindrical curved arm with the apex enlarged and provided with a powerful blackened spine, surrounded by numerous yellow hairs. Male. — Length about 3.5 mm. ; wing about 3.7 mm. Described from an alcoholic specimen. Rostrum and palpi brown. Antennal scape light sulphur-yellow, the flagellum broken. Head sulphur-yellow above with a conspicuous circular dark brown spot on the vertex ; genae slightly infuscated. Mesonotum with the praescutum light chestnut, the lateral margins dark brown ; scutal lobes similar, the posterior lateral angles slightly produced laterad, light, yellow ; scutellum chestnut yellow ; postnotum obscure yellow. Pleura brownish yellow, the dorso-pleural region light sulphur-yellow. Halteres pale, the knobs light sulphur-yellow. Legs with the coxae and trochanters pale brown- ish yellow; remainder of the legs broken. Wings greyish yellow, the veins yellowish. Abdomen brownish yellow, the lateral margins of the tergites paler. Male hypopygium with three pleural appendages on either side, the longest a cylindri- cal curved arm that is expanded into a collar at. the end, armed with a single 210 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST powerful chitinized spine, surrounded by numerous golden-yellow hairs. Habitat. — North Queensland. Holotype , <$ , Babinda, August 7, 1920 (J. F. Illingworth). Molophilus longioricornis, sp. n. General coloration dark brown ; antennae of the male elongated ; pleural appendages of the male hypopygium a chitinized horn with a long, slender spine on the proximal face beyond midlength. Male. — Length about 3.2 mm. ; wing, about 3.6 mm. Described from an alcoholic specimen. Rostrum and palpi pale brown. Antennae dark brown ; the flagellar seg- ments are broken beyond the base but the antennae are very long, probably only a little shorter than the body. Head dark. Thorax dark brown, only the pleural membranes paler. Halteres pale, the knobs a little darker. Legs with the coxae pale brownish yellow ; troch- anters yellow ; remainder of the legs broken. Wings with a strong grayish suf- fusion ; veins dark brown. Abdomen dark brown. Male hypopygium with each pleural appendage appearing as a cylindrical chitinized horn, the bent apex suddenly narrowed into a chitinized spine- that is directed proximad ; beyond midlength of the append- age on the proximal face is a long, slender, slightly bent spine; the outer face of the appendage is provided with several small appressed spines. Habitat. — North Queensland. Holotype, $ , Babinda, August 7, 1920 (J. F. Illingworth). Genus Limnophila, MacquarL Linmophila illingworthi, sp. n. Antennae dark brown, the first flagellar segment light yellow ; mesonotal praescutum and pleura brownish yellow, narrowly striped longitudinally with brown ; legs dark brown, femora with a narrow yellowish subterminal ring ; tibiae with a narrow yellowish ring just beyond the base; wing light gray, the costal margin strongly yellowish ; a series of dark brown costal spots ; all cells of the wing dotted with gray ; costal fringe conspicuous. Male. — Length about 8 mm. ; wing about 8.5 m. Described from an alcoholic specimen. Rostrum brown ; palpi dark brown. Antennae dark brown, the first flagellar segment conspicuously light yellow ; antennae short, the first scapal segment elongate. Head brown, paler between the eyes. Mesonotal praescutum brownish yellow, indistinctly striped longitudinally with brown, there being a more conspicuous median stripe that becomes obliterated before the suture and two sub-lateral stripes on either side ; lateral margins of the praescutum darker brown ; scutum obscure brownish yellow, each lobe encircled by brown, this circle darker anteriorly and laterally; scutellum pale brownish yellow with a narrow brown median line ; postnotum pale brownish yellow with the median line darker brown and with two transverse bars, one near midlength, the other at the posterior margin. Pleura yellow, striped lon- gitudinally with pale brown, there being two or three more or less complete brown stripes that are a little narrower than the pale stripes between. Halteres yellow, the knobs slightly darker. Legs with the coxae yellow, traversed by nar- row brown lines, there being two -such lines on the fore, and middle coxae; THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 211 trochanters yellow ; femora dark brown, with a narrow light yellow ring before the broad (2 mm.) tips ; tibiae dark brown with a narrow light ring immedi- ately beyond the base, this a little broader than the pale femoral ring ; tarsi pale brown. Wings light gray, the costal margin strongly yellow ; wings heavily spotted with dark brown and gray ; a series of dark brown spots along the costa, there being about ten beforerthe larger one at the tip of Sc; three additional large spots situated at the ends of veins Rj , R<2 , and R3 ; a large pale brown area at the origin of Rs and as seams along the cord and outer end of cell 1st M „ ; all cells of the wings with rather abundant gray dots, a little larger and Là heavier at the ends of the longitudinal veins ; veins brown, costa, subcosta and radius more yellowish. Venation: Sc long, Sc, extending some distance be- yond the fork of R2+3 ? Sc 2 nearly three times as long as Sc , alone ; indistinct supernumerary crossveins in the last three brown spots in the costal cell; Rs long, almost square at origin ; R2+3 short, shorter than the basal deflection of Cu, ; r at the tip of R, and beyond midlength of R2 ; inner ends of cells R3 , R 5 and 1st M2 in oblique alignment; cell 1st M2long and narrow, the outer end widened ; petiole of cell M short, about equal to the basal deflection of Cu , , the latter inserted just before midlength of cell 1st M2 ; costal fringe conspicuous. Abdominal tergites brown, darker brown laterally ; sternites a little paler, especially on the caudal half of the segment. Habitat. — North Queensland. Holotype, B , Babinda, August 7, 1920 (J. F. Illingworth). Paratopotype, J' , October, 1920, (J. F. Illingworth). This handsome crane-fly is dedicated to its collector, my friend, Dr. James F. Illingworth. It is possible that it is more correctly referable to Bpiphragma but the supernumerary crossveins in the costal cell are very faint and three in number. ANNOTATED CHECK LIST OF THE MACROLEPIDOPTERA OF ALBERTA— ADDITIONS, 1920 BY KENNETH BOWMAN, Edmonton, Alberta. I record below the additions to my “Check List of the Macrolepidoptera of Alberta, published by the Alberta Natural History Society (Red Deer, 1919), which were made during the season of 1920. The numbers before the names are those of Messrs. Barnes and McDun- nough’s “Check List of the Lepidoptera of Boreal America, 1917.“ The num- bers after the names indicate the month in which the insects were taken. The capital letters are abbreviations of localities, as follows : B, Banfif ; Bm, Blair- more ; C, Calgary ; Cd, Cadomin ; E, Edmonton ; L, Laggan ; N, Nor- degg; P, Pocohontas. The insects were identified by Messrs. Barnes & Lindsay, Mr. L- V • Swett and Dr. J. McDunnough, as shown by the initials in brackets following each insect. I wish to express my great indebtedness to them for their kindness in identifying these insects. 212 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 57 Bury mus hecla pallida Skin. & Men 6 N. 205 Buphydryas colon Edw . . . . 6 Bm. 957 Isia Isabella A. & S 6 C. 987 Apantesis blakei superba Stretch 7 C. 1310 Buxoa atropulveria Sm 9 Bm. 1567 Rhynchagrotis morris onistigma Grt • 7 N. 2362 Bremobia alticola Sm 8 Cd. 3576 Lomanaltes eductalis Wlk 7 E. 3945 Carsia palud\ata Thun 8 E. N.S. Lobophora simsata Swett 6 E. Wabaska River 3977 Lygris diversilineata Hbn 8 C. 3978 Lygris propulsata Wlk 7.8 E. C. Cd. N.S. Hydriomena mcdunnoughi Swett ; . . . 5 N. Cd. N.S. Xanthorhoe dodata Swett 6.8 E. P. N.S. Xanthorhoe reclivisata Swett 7 L. N.S. Xanthorhoe incursata lagganata Swett 7 R. N. 4156 Bupithecia palpata Pack 6 E. 4374 Phasiane hebetata Hist. ( demaculata B&McD) 6.7 E.N.P.C.Bm. 4401 I tame occiduaria Pack 7 C. 4424 Itame d\ecorata Hist 7.8 C. 4644 Sicya macular ia agyllaria Wlk 8 N. Cd. B. 4726 Metanema quercivoraria Gn 7 N. 4748 Pero occidentals Hist 6 P N. 5097 Phlyctaenia ind\istinctalis Warr. . 7 N. 5102 Phlyctaenia tertialis Gn 7E. N. 5253 Pyralis farinalis Linn 8 E. 6751 Paranthrene polistiformis Harris 8 C. (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (L.W.S.) (B & L) ( J.McD.) (L.W.S.) (L.W.S.) (L.W.S.) (L.W.S.) (L.W.S.) (L.W.S/) (B & L) (B & L) (J.McD.) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (B & L) (J.McD.) A NEW SPECIES OF OAK GALL AND ITS MAKER. BY B. W. WEXLS AND Z. P. METCALF, . North Carolina State College and Experiment Station. The gall described below was discovered on Quercus marylandica Muench., near Raleigh, North Carolina, by the senior author who was impressed by its unique characters. The specimens were brought into the laboratory and the adults reared. These adults may not belong to the genus Andricus but await- ing a thorough revision of the Cynipid genera they may be placed there provision- ally. The gall is very different from any other North American cynipid cecid- ium in the possession of the curious peltate bract-like appendages, which are borne on and constitute a part of the gall proper ; in the usual situation with bracted galls the bracts are borne beneath the larval cell or cells, representing aborted leaves. The adult insects emerged about June 1st. Andricus peltatus, n. sp. Female. — Black, with legs and antennae testaceous yellow. Head:- black, mouth parts testaceous yellow, surface uniformly but finely punctate and sparsely covered with rather long whitish pubescence; cheeks rather narrow, but more than one-fourth of the length of the long diameter of the eye. Antennae four- THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 213 teen-segmented; first and second segments enlarged, third segment one-half again as long as the fourth; segments five to thirteen nearly equal in size, seg- ment fourteen conically attenuated, all the segments with rather heavy yellowish pubescence; segments one and two yellow testaceous, the others blackish. Thorax : black ; pronotum rather coarsely punctulate with rather uniform yellow- ish white pubescence; mesonotum smooth, polished, parapsidal grooves deep, rather close together at the scutellum widely divergent anteriorly ; scutellum coarsely and irregular rugulose, very sparsely pubescent. Legs : yellowish tes- taceous rather uniformly covered with paler pubescence ; basal, tarsal segment shorter than 2 to 5 ;. wings transparent, veins brownish, areolet small. Abdo- men : highly polished, second segment about as long as the rest of the abdominal segments united, second segment with a few sparse hairs laterally. Length average 2.4 mm. Holotype. Female, bred from galls on Quercus marylandica Muench., Raleigh, North Carolina deposited in the United States National Museum. Paratypes. Three females and one. gall in the collection of the United States National Museum, bred from similar galls. Eig. 2f 1. Anclricus peltatus, Antenna. 2. Andricus peltatus, portion of wing show- ing radial vein (ft) marginal cell (M. C.) and areolet (A) 3. Dithalamous gall ( a 1). 4. Median vertical section of preceding (x 1). 5. Two bract-like appendages from gall showing peltate character (x 2). Andricus peltatus Wells and Metcalf, Cecidium nov. On Quercus marylandica Muench., sessile on stem at nodes (originates from apical meristem of lateral bud) on branch portions from 1-5 years old; prosoplasma, concentric type with up-walled superstructure ; flask-shaped, the neck bearing numerous, sparsely hairy bract-like appendages which are reflexed and overlap shingle fashion. Appendages greenish with red-tinged hairy tips, peltate, lanceolate, stalk short. When young yery thickly covered with acicular trichomes some of which are of the compound stellate type ; 8-14 mm. high, 14-22 mm. wide at base including appendages ; 1 or sometimes 2 larval cells in proximal half (Fig. 4), distal false chambers corresponding, walls thick, thin sclerotic layer differentiated around nutritive layer lining the chamber ; rare, Raleigh, North Carolina. Types in collection of B. W. Wells. The above de- scription is based on six mature and four immature specimens. 214 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF THE ANTHOMYIID GENUS HEBECNEMA SCHNABL (DIPTERA). BY J. R. M ALLOC II, Urbana, 111. This genus differs from Helinci R.-D., to which it is most closely allied, in having the prealar bristle absent, arista invariably plumose, fifth abdominal sternite in male with a deep U-shaped posterior excision, and the female genitalia without a pair of long slender apical processes. Key to Species. 1. Species entirely fulvous yellow fulva Bigot Species with thorax and abdomen entirely black 2 2. All femora and tibiae reddish yellow pallipes Malloch Mid and hind femora and all tibiae reddish yellow nigricolor Fallen All femora and usually tibiae also black 3 3. Abdomen without a dorsal central black vitta, sometimes with one or two pairs of very indistinct blackish spots fumosa Meigen Abdomen with a very distinct dorsocentral black vitta 4 4. Halteres with black knobs ; abdomen in female entirely glossy black with- out pruinescence vespertina Fallen Halteres with yellow knobs; abdomen in female with distinct gray pruinescence 5 5. Male abdomen broadly ovate, with pearlaceous gray pruinescence, and an almost linear black dorsocentral vitta ; mid femur with a few long fine bristles at base on posteroventral surface ; head hardly flattened above ; eyes hairy umbratica Meigen Male abdomen narrowly ovate, with brownish gray pruinescence, ana a broad black dorsocentral vitta which tapers posteriorly; mid femur without distinct bristles basally on posteroventral surface; head of male distinctly flattened above ; eyes bare affinis , sp. n. I have included fumosa and nigricolor though so far they have not been recorded from this country. It is, however, not improbable that they will ulti- mately be found to occur either in New England or the northwest. Hebecnema affinis, sp. n. Male. — Black, almost glossy. Thorax and abdomen with brownish gray pruinescence, the former very indistinctly vittate, the latter with a broad, black, dorsocentral vitta which tapers posteriorly. Legs black, the tibiae paler. Wings infuscated, more conspicuously so basally and anteriorly. Calyptrae whitish yellow. Halteres yellow. Head rather conspicuously flattened above; eyes bare, separated at narrowest part of frons by a distance equal to width across anterior ocellus ; each orbit with three or four bristles and some weak hairs anteriorly; parafacials almost invisible from the side ; third antennal segment over twice as long as second; longest hairs on arista longer than width of third antennal segment. Thorax normal. Abdomen narrowly ovate ; basal sternite in type with a few hairs, in other specimens bare; fifth sternite normal. Legs as in vespertina, except that the mid femora lack distinct bristles basally, and there are two antero- ventral bristles on hind tibia. Female. — Very similar to the female of umbratica, but the eyes are bare THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 215 and the abdomen more distinctly speckled. Length, 5 mm. Type, male, Rutland, Yt., August 1-15, 1916. Allotype , Auburndale, Mass., June 22. Pciratypes, one male, Mt. Greylock, Mass., June 15, 1906; one female, Bar Harbor, Me., July 30, 1919. Type in collection of Boston Society of Natural History. I have no doubt whatever that this species occurs in Europe, where it is confused with vespertina, as Stein in one of his recent papers on European Anthomyiidae states that vespertina varies in the colour of the halteres, having them sometimes black and sometimes yellow, and in the number of bristles on the anteroventral surface of the hind tibia. I have found only one male of vespertina which had two anteroventral hind tibial bristles and that was on one tibia only. The colour of the halteres in both sexes of vespertina is black while in the new species they are yellow in both sexes. BOOK REVIEW. Contributions to the Naturae History oe the Lepidoptera op North America, Voe. IV., No. 4. — The Pterophoridae of North America — by Wm. Barnes, M.D., and A. W. Lindsay, Ph.D. The final number of Volume IV. of the well-known “Contributions” con- tains a noteworthy monographic revision of the North American ‘plume-moths’. This interesting family has been much neglected by American entomologists dur- ing the past twenty years; in fact since the publication of the Fernald monograph in 1898 only a few sporadic descriptions of new species have appeared and with each year the difficulties connected with the correct determination of material in this group have become greater and greater. The present paper should obviate all this for besides 170 pages of text there are included 7 plates containing most excellent enlarged photographic reproductions of the primaries (and in some cases of the secondaries) of all the North American species, and in addition 7 plates dealing with structural details (wing venation and male genitalia). Great care has been taken to establish the correct synonymy of each species. A large proportion of the existing type material has been personally examined and in cases where this was not possible, careful comparisons have been made by well-known specialists with material sent from the Barnes Collection. A number of changes in specific synonymy- — some of them quite startling — have resulted, but these appear to be thoroughly well authenticated and must be ac- cepted. The greatest changes, however, are to be found in the generic nomencla- ture. Following what we believe to be the only course, if stability of nomen- clature is ever to be attained, the authors have adhered strictly to the Interna- tional Rules of Nomenclature and the opinions rendered by the International Commission on Nomenclature. According to these rules a genotype is not fixed until one of the originally included species in the genus in question has been definitely cited — either at the time the genus was created or at a later date — as 216 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST the type, all so-called ‘restrictions’ previous to such a time being invalid (vide Opinion 46). This latter clause has been the subject of much adverse criticism and is even now not observed by numerous Lepidopterists ; for a very able dis- cussion of this point we would refer the reader to a recent paper by Dr. J. C. Bradley in the -Transactions of the Entomological Society of London for 1919, page 51. As a result of a strict application of the above rules for the first time to the Pterophoridae we find Oxyptilus Zell, superceded by Pterophorus Geoff, (type, didactyla Linn.) and in place of Pterophorus , as generally used, following Walsingham, Fernald and Meyrick, we have the term Oidaematophorus Wllgn. Platyptilia Hbn. is used in its old established sense but Alucita Linn, is cor- rectly referred to hexadactyla Linn., supplanting Orneodes Latr. The four species included under it in the Barnes and McDunnough Check List are distributed in the genera Aciptilia Hbn., Pselnophorus Wlshm. and Adaina Tutt., to which latter genus are also referred several species formerly included in Pterophorus. The only adverse criticism of the above changes that could possibly be made is that Lamarck’s Système des Animaux sans Vertebres (1801) has not been accepted by the authors as fixing genotypes. The point is still a mooted one and has been touched upon by Dr. Bradley in the above mentioned paper. It is a great pity that the Secretary of the International Committee, Dr. C. W. Stiles of Washington, connot be prevailed upon to secure an early vote on this subject, as until this matter and the one concerning the validity of Hubner’s ‘Tentamen’ are definitely settled, no stability in the generic conceptions of the Lepidoptera is possible. In the present instance, if Lamarck had been recognized as fixing genotypes, it would have been permissible to employ both Oxyptilus Zell, and Pterophorus Linn, in the generally accepted way. The monograph deals with 117 species of which 31 are new to science, the greater proportion of these new species being from the southwestern states and referable to the genus Oidaematophorus. Keys to the genera and to the species are included and a full bibliography is given. The authors are to be highly com- plimented on the thoroughness of the work and it is to be hoped that. through its means a fresh impetus will be given to the study of these interesting forms, the biology of which in so many cases is still completely unknown. — J.McD. CORRECTIONS. Page 152.— Table of Species, couplet I, second section, change to read “Disc of Thoracal squamae not pilose.” Page 153. — Couplet 9, second section, change to read, “Face without median black stripes.” Page 152. — Syrphus ribesii, sixth line, change “of” to “or” and read “tip, or apical sixth.” C. H. Curran. Mailed Dec. 8th, 1921. r How to Know the Butterflies A Manual of the Butterflies of the Eastern United States By John Henpr Comstock, Emeritus Professor of Entomology, Cornell University, and Anna Botsford Comstock, Assistant Professor of Nature Study, Cornell University. This work contains descriptions of 152 species and varieties of butter- flies. This includes all of the species and their named varieties found in the eastern half of the United States, excepting a few extremely rare forms. There are 45 plates with 312 figures showing the insects in their natural colours and 49 figures in the text. The work is written in popular form without being superficial, and will serve as a Baedeker among Butterflies to the casual observer or the close student of this most picturesque phase of nature. 311 pages 4- 45 full-page coloured plates — $3.50 net. McClelland & Stewart, Ltd», Toronto. Canadian Representatives. THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO. ITHACA : : NEW YORK Morpho menelaus per 100 Morpho rhetenor per 100 Morpho adonis per 100 Ornithoptera hecuba (males) Lycaena exelis $6.00, European Eye. $5.00, Lycaena $8.00 per 100. 1st qual. 2nd qual. $110.00 $ 78.00 200.00 100.00 75.00 65.00 45.00 d beautiful African Bright, brilliant mixed Butterflies, all suitable for Jewelry, Trays and decorative purposes, good quality, $17.50 per 100. Over 50,000 Butterflies now in stock. Prices Net. American Currency. Terms Cash or C.O.D. G. G. MacBean, Dealer ASSINIBOIA, SASK., CANADA J Q. A. BENTALL, Natural Science Establishment (Entomology) Dudley House, Southampton Street. STRAND, LONDON, W. C. 2. ENTOMOLOGICAL SUPPLIES OF ALL KINDS Any of the following Circulars sent without charge: Lists of Apparatus, Books, Palaearctic, Indo. Australian, African or American Lepidoptera An Introduction to Entomology By John Henry Comstock, Professor of Entomology and General Invertebrate Zoology, Emeritus in Cornell University. Part I. THE STRUCTURE AND METAMORPHOSIS OF INSECTS This volume is the first part of a text-book of entomology that Pro- fessor Comstock has in preparation. It is, however, a complete treatise on the structure and metamorphosis of insects. The part now published includes four chapters. The first chapter is entitled “The Characteristics of Insects and Their Near Relatives.” In this chapter the characteristics of the Arthropoda and of each of the thirteen classes of arthropods is dis- cussed, with figures of representatives of each of these classes. The second chapter is devoted to a detailed discussion of the external anatomy of insects. The third chapter treats of the internal anatomy of insects and includes the results of recent investigations in this field. In the fourth chapter there is a detailed account of the transformation of insects, in which each of the different types of metamorphosis of insects is discussed. There is also included a bibliography and an index. Pages XVIII. -4- 220, with 220 illustrations, Bound in cloth. Price $2.50 net. McClelland & STEWART, Ltd., Toronto Canadian Representatives THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO, ITHACA :: NEW YORK BRITISH COLUMBIA LEPI90PTERA V Experienced collector and 'breeder of Eepidoptera, now collecting in B. 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