Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

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Article beginning on page 267.
Psyche 8:267-268, 1897.

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PSYCHE.
DIPTERA OF THE ORGAN MOUNTAINS IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. - 11.
BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO. In the latter part of August, 1897, a
few days were spent collecting in Fil-
more Canon, and on the main ridge of
the Organs above its head. The more
notable results of this collecting are
here given. Filmore Caiion runs down
the west slope of the range, and is
about five miles long, its head being
about 8,000 feet and its mouth about
5,000 feet altitude above sea. During
the moister season of the year a stream
of clear cold water courses down the
caiion, flowing over sandy beds and
amongst boulders, often dropping from
a few to ten or fifteen feet over masses of rock, finally dashing down a wall
about fifty feet in height some distance within the mouth of the canon. At the
time of the above visit the bed of the
stream was for the most part dry in
the upper three or four miles of its
course, the water seeping out at inter-
vals but soon disappearing again.
5. Tersesthes torms Towns. Thir-
teen females taken on horses, at camp
in Filmore Canon, about 6,000 ft.,
August 29, 1897. They were particu-
larly bad about the horses' heads,
especially about the eyes.
This species was discovered by me
June 21, 1892, on the Continental
Divide, 7,000 ft,, six miles west of
Patterson, in Socorro county, N. M.
The genus and species were described
in Psyche, January, 1893 (vol. 6, pp.
369-371, with p1 8). The present
specimens found in Filmore Caiion,
Organ Mts., are the first and only ones
that have come to notice since the dis-
covery of the original specimens. The
genus and species are easily recogniza-
ble by the descriptions and plate in
Psyche.
6. Volucelta victoria Will. Three
males, top of ridge above head of Fil-
more Canon, about 8,500 ft., August 28,
two being taken on flowers of a grass,
Bouteloua, sp., prob".irsut Lag. (det.
Tinsley), and the other on flowers of
Chrysopsis vi//osa Nutt. var. (det. Tins- ley).
7. Copestylum marginaturn Say, var.
One male, top of ridge above head of
Filmore Caiion, about 8,500 ft., Au-




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PSYCHE. [October 1898.
gust 28, on flowers of Eriogonumjumesii
Benth. (det. Tinsley) .
Length, KO& mm. (not incl. antennae).
Yellow stripe of cheeks not reaching
oral margin. Antennae light yellowish
red, except black arista. Yellow spots
of frontal triangle subobsolete, pile
black. Pile of thoracic dorsum black,
of pleura whitish, no yellow on sides
of dorsum nor in front of scutellum.
Fourth abdominal segment with no trace
of a band, wholly greenish black,
clothed with white pile. The reddish
yellow bands of second and third seg-
ments are well separated. Second and
third segments of venter yellowish.
Proximal half of tibiae yellowish, meta- tarsi more or less reddish.
This specimen can not be referred to
Williston's var. lenturn, but may be
intermediate between lenturn and the
normal form.
8. Cuterebra nstida Coq. Two males,
Filmore Caiion, about 6,000 ft., Au-
gust 27, 1897. These specimens, and
others which were seen but not cap-
tured, were found flying up and down
the bed of the stream at the camp, and
alighting on rocks beside or between
the pools of running water.
They agree with Coquillett's de-
scription, except that the two opaque
pollinose spots contiguous to the eyes
are not distinct, and the abdomen shows
faint suggestions of pollen in certain
lights at extreme base.
9. Meria iterans Walk. Two
females. One on flowers of Chrysofsis
vtllosu Nutt. var., top of ridge above
head of Filmore Caiion, about 8,500 ft.. August 28. The other, Filmore Canon,
about 6,000 ft., August 27.
This is the species which I have
always identified as Bchinomyia (Pelete- rili) iterans Walk. According to Mr.
D. W. Coquillett's Revision of Tachini-
dae of America north of Mexico (Techn.
Bull. No. 7 Div. Ent. U. S. Dept.
Agric.), this species would be known as
Peltteniz fesselluta Fab. Vram a lack
of evidence upholding the synonyms
given in this work, I am constrained to
continue to call. this species P. iterans. There are many reasons which make
the synonymy given by Mr. Coquillett
under Pdeterift and Archyfas extremely
doubtful. I have followed Williston's
conception of P. iterans Walk. (Trans.
Am. Ent. Soc. XIlI, p. ~oI), in con-
sidering that it possessed the bristles
contiguous to lower portion of eyes;
while in the above "Revision" iterans
Walk. is placed in A>chytas in which
these bristles are absent, and is more-
over made a synonym of A. lateralis
Mcq. (formerly known asfurinia later-
alis) ! Further, we have only the
author's dictum that the present species is the same as the European tessellata
Fab. ; while both Brauer and Bergen-
stamm and van der Wulp, who ought to
know the European form, have consid-
ered the American different. This is only one of the many examples of incongruity, and lack of substantiating evidence for
statements made, to be found in Mr.
Coquillett's paper, to which I shall have occasion to refer in detail at another time.



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October 1898.1 PSYCHE. 269
I o. Pehteria thomsoni Will. Twenty
specimens (18 8 and 2 ?), varying
from small to large, as follows: Sixteen males, top of ridge above head of
Filmore Caiion, about 8,500 ft., August
28, six taken on flowers of Eriogonum
jamesii Benth. One male and one
female, Filmore Caiion, about 6000 ft.,
August 29, on flowers of Gutierrezia saro- thrae. One male and one female in cop.,
Filmore Caiion, about 7000 ft., August
28, on flowers of Gutierrezia sarothrae. I I. Gaediopsis monticola n. sp. One
male, top of ridge above head of Filmore Canon, about 8,500 ft., August 28.
Length, IO& mm. Differs from de-
scription of G. setosa Coq. (Rev. Tach.
p. 136) as follows : Tibiae yellowish red, the anterior ones blackish at base.
Face and sides of front pale yellowish,
former silvery and latter cinereous polli- nose. Second antenna1 joint yellowish
or reddish. Sides of abdomen on first,
second, and third segments broadly pale
red, leaving a broader median area of
black between, which widens posteriorly. Front at bases of antennae twice as wide as either eye, at vertex one and one-fifth times width of either eye. The fine
bristly hairs on sides of face are in two parallel approximated rows near margin
of eyes, there being none between the
lateral facial row and the facial ridge
row. Cheeks 4s broad as one-half eye-
height, clothed with bristly hairs. An-
tennae four-fifths as long as face, third joint nearly or quite three times as long as second. First aristal joint as long as wide; second four or five times as long
as first, and fully one-third total length of last joint, which is much tapered on
its final third. The middle tibiae each
bear four macrochaetae on front side,
the fourth or upper one the shortest, in- creasing in length to the lowest one ,
which is longest. Otherwise agrees in
all respects with the characters given for G. setosa.
NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND ACRIDIIDAE, IV, - ACRIDIINAE, 111. BY ALBERT P. MORSE, WELLESLEY, MASS.
22. SCHISTOCERCA Stil. 31. Schistocerca rubiginosa Harris. Schisfocerca St51 1873. Recensio or- Fig. 3 I. thopterorum, I, 73. Acridium rub&inosum. Harris Mss. This genus includes locusts of large
in Scudder, Materials etc., Boston Journ. size and rapid and powerful flight; Nat. Hist., VII, 467 (1862); Thomas, they are somewhat arboreal in habit, Syn. Acrid., 170; Fernald, Orth. N. E., frequently alighting or feeding on trees 3 I ; Comstock, Introd., I 06 ; Beutenmul- and shrubs.
ler, Orth. N. Y., 304.




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