Article beginning on page 102.
Psyche 5:102, 1888.

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102 PST-cm. [September-October 1888.
found no less than three genera of asili- dae identical, and unknown elsewhere.
I regret never to have seen a speci-
men of Rhaphiomidas 0. S., one of
those peculiar transitional forms about
which opinions will differ. Baron
Osten Sacken has recently rejected it
from the midaidae, and, jud'ging from
the description of the antennae, with
good reason. These organs seem to be
quite like those of the Ddsypogonid
Ospriocerus. In some features the
form seems intermediate between
Aptocera and the asilidae, but the
wing structure is so different from that of the latter family that I do not think it should be united with it. I would
rather place it among the afioceri-
dae. These and the many other osci-
lant genera in the Orthorrhaphous
diptera serve only to emphasize the
fact that nature abhors classification,
and the only good that can come from
their discussion is the elucidation of the relative values of different structural
characters.
DESCRIPTION OF ASPHONDYLIA HELIANTHI-GLOBULUS. BY JOHN MARTEN, CHAMPAIGN, ILL.
This fly is recorded in Osten Sacken's
Catalogue of N. A. Diptera, p. 5, as
A. Lelia&-globulus, Walsli (in lift.),
Osten Sacken gives the following com-
parison. Trans. Am. Ent. Soc.Vo1. 111,
p. å´?z.-'å´'å rudbeckias conspicua at
first sight is not unlike A. heliaxthi-
ylobulws, Walsh in litt., of which I owe a specimen to my lamented friend.
Walsh's species, however, is easily
distinguished by the paler color of its
hind tibiae and tarsi. Its general color is also paler brown, with a yellowish-
brown pubescence ; its coxae are pale ;
the vein ending in the apex of the wing
is less arched than in A. ~udbeckiae.
" A, helianthi-globulus, Wiilsh,
forms a rounded swelling on the stem
of ffelianth. As it has never been
described these notes may serve to
identify it."
Imago, $ 9, blackish brown, cov-
ered with gi-ayish hairs (dl y and alco- holic specimens become more brown) ;
feet black with grayish hairs, femora
brownish; hind tibiae, short first joint of the tarsi and the long second joint
whitish tipped with black hairs. Wings
clothed with dark grayish hairs, dusky ; venation like that of A. monacha, 0.
Sack., it consists of three veins the last of which is forked, the anterior branch
being partially concealed in a fold which extends to the root of the wing; the
second vein is nearly straight and ends
almost in the middle of the apex. The
antennae are fourteen jointed (2 + 12),
filiform and pubescent; the joints of
the flagellum are cylindrical, of nearly equal gradually diminishing length up
to the ninth; the tenth is smaller than
the ninth ; the eleventh and twelfth to-



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September-October 1888.1 PSYCHE. 103
gether are about equal in length" to the tenth. Halteres light brown. The
ovipositor is stout, cylindrical and fur- nished with a long needle-like organ
which protrudes beyond the tip.
Length four mm.
Emerges in Sep-
tember and October.
The pupa has two contiguous, short,
subconical projections at the top of the head; the dorsal segments of the ab-
domen have on the middle of each a
somew hat irregular double transvei se
row of short spines, and behind it a
single regular row of similar spines,
the last segment, at the tip, has a row
of such spines.
Osten Sacken compares, briefly, this
pupa with A. monacJia, Trans. Am.
Ent. Soc. Vol. 11, p. 301.
The galls are formed on the stem of
HeZian/hz~syrosse-sewatus, from a few
inches to three feet or more above the
ground ; they ase globular, sphericiil or ovate, in shape, from three-eigh ths of an inch to two inches in diameter.
The pupa in extricating itself fiom
the gall may leave its. case protruding' from the place of exit or may drop to
the ground before leaving its case.
SOME ACCOUNT OF OUR SPECIES OF GEOTRUPES. BY FREDERICK BLANCHARD, LOWELL, MASS.
Several familiar species of Geotru-pes
are among the first acquisitions made
by the beginner of a collection of cole- optera in the Eastern United States.
They are in fact so abundant and easily
found that the interest in them soon
ceases, and this part of one's col-
lection makes about the poorest exhibit
of the whole, from the fact that the
clumsily pinned, poorly cared for spe-
cimens of our early inexperience alone
appear as representatives of the species. As I have recently observed, however,
in Mr. Henry Ulke's collection, a series of good examples of the different spe-
cies and their varieties is an ornament
instead of, as is too often the case, a dis- grace to the collection. It is not always best to neglect old friends, and in our
common species of Geotrz/$es the very
interesting male peculiarities are quite worthy of occasional attention, as they
form the basisof a natural classification. In 1865 M. Henri Jekel published
in the " Annales de la Socikte Entom.
ole France," an arrangement of the spe-
cies of this genus, adopting the plan of making subgenera of the different divi-
sions, paying especial attention to our
North American species. and describ-
ing' several from this country as new.
A little later Dr. G. H. Horn, in 1867,
in the Transactions of the Ainer. Ent.
Soc. vol. i, reviewed M. Jekel's paper
at length as far as it related to our spe- cies, placing before American students
the true relations and limits ofthespecies at the same time very properly suppress-



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