I. SUB -ORDER NEMATOCERA. 



MOSQUITO-LIKE FLIES. 



Family 1. PSYCHODID/E. .Volli-like Flies. The Psychodas are small moth-like flies, sometimes 

 found running on windows. Their bodies and wings are covered with hairs. Little is known of their 

 habits. They are interesting as the connecting link between moths and flies. 



i. Psychoda alternata. -fa in. ; yellowish white, body brownish, wing banded, dotted with black. 



Family 2. CULICID/E. Mosquitoes. Stinging Gnats. The males neither sing nor sting, but dance ; and 

 their food is unknown. They are easily recognized bv their feather-like feelers. The feelers of the female* are 

 hairy though less feather-like. Their eggs are laid in a boat-shaped mass on the surface of stagnant water on 

 which it floats. In a few days these hatch and the larva; wiggle out on the water side of the boat, grow rapidly, 

 and have a breathing tube on the joint before the last of the tail. When full grown they change to pupa, and at 

 the same time they develop two breathing tubes on the chest part, and lose that of the tail. After a few days the 



pupa bursts on the back, and the mosquito crawls out and rides on the cast off skin till its wings are hardened 

 enough to flv away. A mosquito's mouth is composed of six pieces and a sheath: three fine needle-pointed hairs 

 form the underlip, two stronger ones with barbed points, the npperlip ; these five form a tube enclosing the 

 tongue. The mosq'iito differs from the following families not only in the veins of the wing, but also by having a 

 long fringe on the hind edge, and scales on the veins. 



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