FAMILIES T>IXID/E AND STENOXENID^ 



The little midges of the Dixidae resemble mosquitoes, but 

 they do not bite. They all belong to the single genus Dixa, 

 which is so distinct from the other Diptera as to constitute a 

 group of family rank all by itself. We have less than ten species 

 in this country. The Dixas seem intermediate between the 

 mosquitoes and the crane flies. They are found in damp places 

 in forests, and in the larval state are aquatic. The larva is con- 

 siderably like that of a mosquito, and might by the careless 

 observer well be taken fonthe larva of a mosquito of the malaria- 

 bearing genus Anopheles. The Dixa larva has fringes on the 

 upper jaws like those in mosquito larva, but it differs in having 

 leg-like projections from the first two segments of the abdomen. 

 It is found in shallow water and breathes air as do the mosquito 

 larvae. The pupa has respiratory siphons on the thorax just 

 as does the pupa of mosquitoes. 



Stenoxenidce is a family name proposed by Coquillett for a 

 single little fly of curious venational structure Stenoxenus John- 

 soni which is known only from Delaware Water Gap, N. J. 



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