1. LAPHRIA (DASYLLIS) ASTUR n. sp., [Male Female].--Like Laphria posticata Say, but the tibiae beset with yellow pile. Length 14-20 mm.
Black; face, occiput, thoracic dorsum, and the two penultimate abdominal segments densely clothed with yellow hairs; palpi with black pile; a tuft of black bristles above the mouth is usually concealed under the overhanging yellow hairs of the face; scutellum with black pile. Legs black; front femora on their hind side and all the tibiae with long yellow hairs; on the hind tibiae, the yellow hairs do not quite reach the tip. Proximal half of the wings subhyaline; distal half more or less brownish, the inside of the cells being paler.
Hab.--Common in California; Petaluma, April 27; Mendocino, April 29 (J. Behrens); Saucelito, May 16. Most of my specimens, however, I caught about Webber Lake, Sierra Nevada (July 23-25). I have six males and nine females.
This species varies in the extent of yellow pile, especially around the neck, on the pleurae, and on the legs. As a rule, specimens taken at high altitudes have more yellow pile than those taken at lower ones. A specimen taken at Petaluma, therefore, but little above sea level, had no trace of yellow hairs on the tibiae. The specimens from Webber Lake had a great many yellow hairs. The fan-like row of hair in front of the halteres is, in different specimens, either yellow or black. Some specimens have a yellow tuft in front of the wings, and another in front of the coxae; in others, they are wanting. On the tibiae, the yellow hairs appear sometimes only at the base.
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