112 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



one species (Stomoxj/s calcitrans, F.), alluded to lii a 

 former letter as so nearly resembling- thecommon house- 

 fly*, which, though its oral instruments are to appear- 

 ance not near so tremendous, is a much greater tor- 

 ment than the Tabanus. This little pest, I speak feel- 

 ingly, incessantly interrupts our studies and comfort in 

 showery weather, making us even stamp like the cattle 

 by its attacks on our legs ; and, if we drive it away 

 ever so often, returning again and again to the charge. 

 In Canada they are infinitely w orse. " I have sat dowij 

 to write," says Lambert (who though he calls it the 

 liouse-fly is evidently speaking of the Stomoxys), " and 

 have been obliged to throw away my pen in conse- 

 quence of their irritating bite, which has obliged me 

 every moment to raise my hand to my eyes, nose, mouth, 

 and ears in constant succession. When I could no 

 longer write, I began to read, and was always obliged 

 tp keep one hand constantly on the move towards 

 my head. Sometimes in tlie course of a few minutes 

 I would take half a dozen of my tormentors from 

 ray lips, between which I caught them just as they 

 perched''." 



The swallow-fly {Or»ithomi/ia Jlirundinis, Latr. 

 Jlippobosca, L.), whose natural food is the bird after 

 which it is named, has been known to make its repast 

 on the human species. One found its way into a bed 

 of the Rev. R. Sheppard, where it first, for several 

 nights, sorely annoyed a friend of his, and afterwards 

 himself, without their suspecting the culprit. After a 

 close search, hov.ever, it was discovered in the form of 

 this fly, which, forsaking the nest of the swallow, had 

 by some chance taken its station between the sheets, 



* See above, p. 49 50. •• Traich; &c. i. 126. 



