218 



Ventral abdominal segments each with a pair of wart-like eleva- 

 tions; small species, not more than 20 mm. in length. .Dicranota. 



Pedicia Latreille 



I have not seen the immature stages of this genus, my informa- 

 tion regarding them having been obtained from published descrip- 

 tions. These justify the following generalizations for the larvae and 

 pupae. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS 



Larva. — Head narrow, similar in general structure to that of 

 Dicranota (PL XXXIV, Fig. 9), the dorsal surface compact, arcuate; 

 mandibles slender, the apical tooth long and pointed, inner lower 

 margin with several smaller teeth ; maxillary palpi longer and stouter 

 than the antennae. Body with weak isolated hairs, or bare, the seg- 

 ments distinct ; ventral surface of segments 8-1 1 each with a pair of 

 transverse pseudopods, the apices of which are not armed with 

 spinules; apical segment with 2 long terminal processes, at the base 

 of which, on the dorsal surface of the apical segment, are the spiracles 

 on slight elevations ; ventral anal blood-gills, when fully extended, as 

 long as terminal processes. 



Pupa. — Differs from that of Dicranota in the absence of ventral 

 protuberances. 



HABITS OE LARVAE 



The larvae are aquatic and usually occur in still water — in springs 

 or wells. They feed upon algae, diatoms, and small crustaceans. 



HABITS OE IMAGINES 



The flies of this genus are very large, and the wing-markings and 

 conspicuously marked abdomen of the common species render their 

 detection in nature very easy. Their flight is slow and heavy, and 

 they seldom rise much above the level of the rank vegetation in the 

 marshy or wet situations in which they normally occur. 



Pedicia albivitta Walker 



Pedicia alhivitta Walker, List of Diptera in British Museum Coll., Pt. I (1848), 



p. 37. Imago. 

 Tipulid sp.? Needham, Bull. 68 N. Y. State Mus., p. 285. (1903) 



Needham, in the bulletin cited above, described and figured the 

 larva and pupa of this species. 



