diff --git a/lib/dns.js b/lib/dns.js
index 834310810f4..17f8b32d0b8 100644
--- a/lib/dns.js
+++ b/lib/dns.js
@@ -41,23 +41,6 @@ function errnoException(errorno, syscall) {
 }
 
 
-function familyToSym(family) {
-  switch (family) {
-    case 4: return cares.AF_INET;
-    case 6: return cares.AF_INET6;
-    default: return cares.AF_UNSPEC;
-  }
-}
-
-
-function symToFamily(family) {
-  switch (family) {
-    case cares.AF_INET: return 4;
-    case cares.AF_INET6: return 6;
-    default: return undefined;
-  }
-}
-
 // c-ares invokes a callback either synchronously or asynchronously,
 // but the dns API should always invoke a callback asynchronously.
 //