182 SIMULIID^. 



Family SIMULIID^. 



There is only one genus in this family, namely Simidium, though 

 Prof. Wilhston speaks of seeing a damaged North American 

 specimen tliat probably represents a second genus. 



Prom tlieir short thick bodies, broad wings, short legs, and 



Fig. 22. — Sinuilmm. 



■generally " squat " appearance the SimuliidjE are more unlike 

 the rest of the Nematoceba than any other group.* 



Their peculiar venation, however, which is totally unlike that of 

 any other family of Diptera, with the exception of the Phobid.e 

 in the BRACHycEiiA, will at once separate them, even to the 

 ■beginner's eye. 



Genus SIMULIUM, Latr. 



Simulium, Latreille, Hist. Nat. Ins. Crust, iii, p. 426 (1802). 



Simulla, auctt. 



Atractocera, Meigen, Klass. i, p. 94 (1804). 



Genotype, according to Zetterstedt, S. rejjtans, Mg., but 

 ■Coquillet gives liliagio colombaczensis, Schcinb. 



Head semicircular. Eyes usually reniform,t sometimes rounded, 

 bare, in life generally of a red colour ; contiguous above in the 



* Excepting Orphnephilid.e, which are not Oriental. 



t Zetterstedt (Dipt. Scancl. ix, p. Ml 5) says the eyes in the male are 

 rounded, reniform in the female. Insufficiency of material prevents my 

 confirming or disputing this ; most authors speak of the eyes as " rounded or 

 reniform," the inference being that the shape is not dependent on the sex. As 

 regards their colour Schiner says " generally red in life " ; Zetterstedt says 

 "often red in male, obscure in female." The latter author also notes sexual 

 differences in both antennte and palpi which are uot recorded by subsequent 

 writers. 



