DIPTERA. 



437 



The family includes only a single genus, Dixa. 

 We have found the adult midges common on rank her- 

 bage, growing in a swampy place, in a shady forest. 



Family CULICID^: (Cu-lic'i-dae). 

 The Mosquitoes. 



The form of mosquitoes is so well known that it would 

 be unnecessary to characterize the Culicidae were it not 

 that there are certain mosquito-like insects that are liable 

 to be mistaken for members of this family. 



The mosquitoes are small flies, with the abdomen long 

 and slender, the wings narrow, the antennae 

 plumose in the males (Fig. 511), and usu- 

 ally with a long, slender, but firm proboscis. 

 The thorax lacks the transverse V-shaped 

 su-ture characteristic of the crane-flies ; and 

 vein V of the wings is only two-branched 

 (Fig. 512). But the most distinctive feature FlG - s" ; -Antennae of 



mosquitoes. , male ; 



of mosquitoes is a fringe of scale-like hairs /.female. 



on the margin of the wing and also, in all known American 



forms, on each of the wing-veins. 



VII, 



VII, 



FIG. 512. Wing of Culex. 



The larvae of mosquitoes, so far as they are known, are 

 aquatic. But it is probable that some species breed in the 

 ground, for mosquitoes occur in arid regions far from water. 



The transformations of those species with aquatic larvae 

 are easily observed. The immature forms may be found in 



