Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
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Article beginning on page 33.
Psyche 11:33, 1904.

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ADDITIONAL NOTE ON NEMOTELTJS.
BY A. L. MELANDER, PULLMAN, WASH.
It not infrequently happens that two entomologists publish independently on a certain subject. When the same species are simultaneously described in dif- ferent journals there may be considerable doubt as to which name shall be used as it is often difficult to determine the exact date of publication of the descrip- tions.
In this way Dr. C. F. Adams and myself chanced to describe several species of the dipterous genus Nemofelus, Dr. Adams' paper appearing in the Kansas University Science Bulletin for November, 1905, page 221, and mine in PSYCHE in the number for October-December, 1903, pages I 71-183. The two species described by Dr. Adams, kansensis and abdominalis, when judged by their descriptions certainly seem identical with two species described by me, bellulus and trinotatus. Through the kindness of
Dr. Adams I have secured typical specimens of his species and find characters not mentioned in the diagnoses by which the species can be separated. For the convenience of the future student these are given herewith.
Nemotelus abdominalis Adams.
Female : rostellum more elongate and conical than in bellulus, extending beyond the base of the antennae two-thirds their length. Abdominal marks extend- ing half way into the segments.
The pale fasciae of the abdomen are of the paired type mentioned in my analytical key, but are subconfluent medially and thus present the appearance of a transverse band.
Length 4 mm.
Male : Rostellum projecting two-thirds the distance to the tip of the antennae : eyes contiguous for less than half their diameter, and evidently impressed along their line of contiguity : front tibiae with a narrow dark ring in the middle. Nemotelus bellulus Melander.
Female: Rostellum shorter, beak-like, i. e., bent downward at tip, reaching about half way to the end of the antennae: pale marks of abdomen marginal. Length 3-4 mm.
Male : Rostellum very short: eyes contiguous about half their diameter, and Pncht 11:31-M(1904). hupflpsychtemclubo~/11/11-033 html



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PSYCHE [April
less impressed, although more so than in Wheeleri Mel.: front tibiae with a suffused broad dark band.
The females of kansensis and trimtatus and markedly alike, but the males are entirely different. Dr. Adams suggested in a letter the possibility of a species with dimorphic males, but a close study reveals characters by which the females can be recognized, which indicates that there are two distinct species. The differences in the extent of the color markings of the abdomen and legs are not of value in separating these species. The characteristic differences between the two species may be stated thus :
Nemotelus kansensis Adams.
Female: 5.5 mm. Rostellum projecting beyond the eye more than the horizontal diameter of the eye : proboscis geniculate a little before the middle. Nemotelus trinotatus Melander,
Female : Length 4.5 mm. Rostellum projecting not more than the diameter of the eye : proboscis geniculate at the middle. The male of kansensis is at once distinguished from all the other species by the single conspicuous black fiscia on the fifth abdominal segment. Sossonae
Johnson and flavicornis Johnson, the only other species with a black fascia so placed, are of small size and have the fourth segment also blackened. Moreover in these species the third vein is simple. A DIPTEROUS PARASITE OF THE Box TURTLE.- In PSYCHE, Vol. V, page 403, Dr. Wm. M. Wheeler mentions several cases of finding larvae of dipterous flies of the genus Sarcophoga in tumors in the skin of the Box Turtle. On July 28, 1902, I found another case of the same kind at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, N. Y., near the biological laboratory. The turtle had a swelling about an inch in diameter on the left side of the neck with a small opening directed forward that was usually nearly closed but could be easily stretched to quarter of an inch in diameter.
Five larvae were taken out through this opening with forceps, one dead and partly decayed, the others alive and full grown. Placed in bottles with moist earth they buried themselves within a few hours. On July 31 one of them had pupated and the fly came out August 17. It is plainly a Sarcophoga but has not yet been exam- ined by anyone familiar enough with this genus to determine the species. The fly and one of the larvae are in the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Mass.-7. H. Emerton.




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