THE STABLE-FLY. 



161 



irritation to the animals confined there and in extreme cases 

 these become frantic with pain and unmanageable. 



The stable-fly (fig. 132, plate XI), found most abun- 

 dantly late in autumn, resembles very closely a house-fly, but 

 can be distinguished from it by its pointed proboscis project- 

 ing in front of the head (fig. 133) and by its feathered feelers. 



Fig. 133. — Mouth-parts of stable-fly. Greatly enlarged. Original. 



Its general color is gray; the anterior half of the thorax pos- 

 sesses four darker stripes, \Vhile the posterior half is spotted. 

 The abdomen, with a yellowish-brown cast, has upon the 

 second to last segment three brown and poorly-defined spots. 

 It seems as if this fly produced but a few generations each 



4. — Tsetse-fly. A modern and Bruce's original ilUtstration. Bnlarged. 



year. The maggot, very similar to that of the house-fly, has 

 a somewhat different head, and can be distinguished readily 

 by the fact that the two posterior spiracles possess three 

 openings arranged in a triangle, while the former has but 

 one. The larval stage of this very annoying insect is passed 

 in horse-manure, though it has also been found mining in the 

 leaves of various plants (Taschenberg). 



A fly related to the stable-fly, and also similar to the- 

 breeze-fly, has a particularly bad reputation; it is the TsE- 



