OUTLINES OP ENTOMOLOGY. 93 



the blood has been drawn. The mouth parts of the male mosquito are 

 not so long, and are adapted to sipping the nectar of flowers instead of 

 the sanguinary nourishment preferred by his partner. The eyes are 

 very large and somewhat oblong. The antennje are plumy in both 

 sexes, but those of the male are much more ornamental than those of 

 the female. The thorax is considerably humped and the bind body 

 long and slender. The legs are also very long and thin. The wings 

 are fringed on the edge and the principal veins are outlined by fine 

 scales. The eggs are laid in a boat-shaped mass on the surface of still 

 water, and the larvie are the well-known "wrigglers" so often seen in 

 standing water. They swim by the aid of unsymmetrically arranged 

 tufts of bristles, and breathe through a tube at the hinder end of the 

 body, which they frequently project above the surface of the water. 

 The pupte do not take any nourishment, but are active, club-headed 

 affairs which swim by means of the two paddles in which the abdomen 

 terminates. There are a great many species of these venomous gnats, 

 some of which are strictly nocturnal while others are equally active day 

 and night. Culex ciliatus, Fab. is perhaps the most generally dis- 

 tributed species. 



The Crane-flies (Tipulid^) resemble mosquitoes in general ap- 

 pearance, but many species are from five to ten times the size of the 

 latter. They have no sting and are not injurious in any way. The 

 larvae breed in soil that is rich in decaying organic matter, and there- 

 fore often emerge from flowerpots and hot-beds. They also occur in 

 mould and other fungi, and in water. 



Gad-flies or Breeze-flies (Tabanid^). — In this and the two follow- 

 ing families of the Orthorapha, the antennae are short and three-jointed. 

 The Gad-flies or Horse-flies are shaped much like the house-fly, but are 

 very much larger. The mouth parts are very strong and awl-shaped, and 

 the bite is very painful. There are several species, of which the 

 " Green-head fly" (Tahanus lineola^ Fabr.) and the large black Horse- 

 fly fT. atratus Fabr.) are exceedingly annoying to horses during the 

 summer months, their sharp stabs and their menacing buzz driving the 

 animals into a frenzy, and not infrequently causing them to run away. 



The Mottled Breeze-fly, a somewhat smaller species, mottled in 

 a dirty white and brown, is more especially injurious to hornrjiattle. 

 The larvae are aquatic or semi-aquatic, and those that have been 

 described are glossy, greenish or yellowish "woims," with a row of 

 rounded tubercles on each side, and taper to a very small head. The 

 pupae are ridged or roughened on the abdominal joints, and formed in 

 the ground. 



