356 NORTH AMERICAN DIPTERA 



Family Canaceidse 



Canace, head and wing. 



Very small flies, not more than 3.5 mm. in length, very similar to 

 certain Ephydrida? but with the anal cell complete. 



Head large, the oral opening very large; clypeus prominent; pro- 

 boscis large, with fleshy labellffi; palpi well developed; front wide in 

 both sexes, wdth three or four pairs of divergent orl)itals, the ocellar 

 triangle sometimes extending to the base of the antenna'; cheeks wide, 

 bearing bristles; oral vibriss£e present; face gently convex in lu'ofile; 

 antenna^ short, the arista bare or pubescent. Thorax short, bearing 

 four pairs of dorsocentrals and a pair of prescutellar acrosticals; 

 scutellum wath one or two pairs of bristles. Legs rather short. Auxiliary 

 vein evanescent apically, the costa broken before the end of the first 

 vein; basal and anal cells complete; anal vein short. Abdomen com- 

 posed of seven segments, the first not strongly differentiated from the 

 second which is elongate. 



The members of this family occur along the seashore, the larva* 

 living in brackish water. 



I believe that there is but one genus in the Nearctic Region. In 1924 

 ]\Ialloeh described a species under the name Canacea macateei, and 

 Johnson, in his "List of the Insects of New England" recognized the 

 genus Canacea. However, I was informed by Mr. Malloch during a 

 conversation several years ago that "Canacea'' was a slip of the pen, 

 that he had no intention of establishing a new name, and that he was 

 extremely doubtful that his species differed generically from Canace 

 Haliday. I have not seen representatives of Canace but I can find 

 nothing in the descriptions to warrant the recognition of Canacea. 

 There are tliree species known from the United States, one from the 



