332 



HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



choked with logs. He says when he first went to Texas that 

 he was in the habit of pulling off his shoes and sitting down 

 to read. Under these circumstances he was grievously 

 tormented by the bites of the sand flies, especially around 

 the ankles and wrists. His feet and hands would soon 

 burn as though he had been wading through nettles. 



Pratt says that the Virginia punkie is very troublesome 

 to man and domestic animals. " If milking is put off later 



Fig. 114. — A punkie (C. guttipennis) , much enlarged. 



than usual in the morning, they drive the cows almost 

 frantic by their persistence, and while that process is going 

 on the operator, having both hands engaged, is at their 

 mercy." 



Life history. — Very little is known of the life histories 

 of these flies. In fact, so far as we are able to find, almost 

 nothing is known save what F. C. Pratt has observed 

 regarding the life history of what he calls the Virginia 

 punkie (Fig. 114) (Ceratopogon guttipennis). He found 



