NUMBERED LIST OF FAMILIES 109 



Nos. Refs. FAMILIES Notes 



VII ... igb. ORPHNEPHILHXE (darkness-loving): all foreign flies, 

 except one rare. 



VIII ... 16. PSYCHODID^E : minute moth-like flies; they have been 



named owl-midges from a peculiar manner of holding their 

 wings in repose. 



IX ... 18. CULICID^E : the true gnats or mosquitoes ; 5 genera, 18 



native species; three common, including Culex pipiens; 

 larvae abundant about marshy land and everywhere in water 

 from which fish are absent, even in brackish water, but particu- 

 larly in the stagnant water of small pools and vessels. 



X ... iga. DiXHXE: a few small and gnat-like flies; larvae aquatic. 



XI ... 21. PTYCHOPTERID,E : larvae in shallow muddy pools. 



XII ... 23. LIMNOBID^E: 32 genera and more than 100 species; 



generally marsh and fen slender flies, large and small, rather 

 resembling "crane-flies"; the larvae live some in decaying 

 vegetable matter, some in fungi, some are aquatic, and some 

 are unknown; two species called "winter-gnats," genus 

 Trichocera, are very common. 



XIII ... 24. TIPULID^E : true crane-flies or daddy-long-legs; about 



60 species ; larvae (leather-jackets) underground in turf, or in 

 decadent matter. 



XIV ... 8. RHYPHID.E: three native species; slender and of medium 



size ; larvae in rotting vegetable matter. 



XV ... 28. STRATIOMYID^: : 12 genera, 40 or more species; pro- 



boscis imperfect ; wings rather small in comparison with the 

 body, which is free from hairiness; a few are those large and 

 conspicuously bright-coloured flies, which are called "soldier- 

 flies"; the larvae of the genus Stratiomys are known as "star- 

 tailed " maggots. 



XVI ... 30. TABANID^E: breeze-flies; ocelli absent ; the short well- 



developed proboscis of the blood-sucking female pierces the 

 skin of mammalia; the abdomen is somewhat pubescent, 

 never hairy ; semi-blind ; larvae in damp earth, predaceous. 



XVII ... 31, 37. LEPTHXE ; a family of few species resembling some 

 Empidae rather than the flies of any preceding family. Lcptis 

 scolopticca is a large fly, common in meadows, yellowish body 

 with black spots. 



XVIII ... 40. ASILID^:: the "robber-flies," which are more boldly 

 voracious than any other raptorial flies, preying on winged 

 insects, large and small ; terrestial predaceous larvae. 



XIX ... 42. BOMBYLID/E: furry, hovering, bee-like flies, mostly very 



long-tongued; bodies very rotund but with legs singularly 

 thin ; larvae, some parasitic on the larvae of ground bees, some 

 unknown. 



