THE GAD- OR BREEZE-FLIES. 169 



flies possess. As seen in fig. 140, plate XIII, which illus- 

 trates the most common kind found in Minnesota, the 

 Chrysops rt^.sfM«;;.§ v. d. Wulp., the insect is also quite orna- 

 mental in general appearance, being spotted and banded 

 with pale yellow and white. 



A number of different kinds occur in Minnesota; all are 

 very prettily marked insects, with wings wide apart, and 

 with a flattened abdomen, square-shaped almost to the 

 posterior end; the wings are colored with large hyalinespots. 



Notwithstanding their beautiful eyes and bright colors 

 these flies are a great pest, and when at all numerous, stock 

 of all kinds suffers very greatly. Man does not escape, and 

 those who are in the habit of bathing in rivers and lakes 

 know to their sorro^vthat such flies are always lying in wait, 

 and are not slow to attack them; they find their victims 

 •even before they have had time to undress, and the long 

 proboscis of these blood-thirsty tormenters can be felt even 

 through the undergarments. If they are at all numerous, 

 Taathing becomes a luxury that one can not enjoy at all in 

 the open air. Animals also suffer greatly from their attacks, 

 and they frequently make horses so frantic with apprehen- 

 sion and pain that they will run away. It seems that some 

 prefer to puncture the domesticated animals around theeyes, 

 and one species has on that account been named the "blind- 

 ing chrysops." 



Like the gad-flies these insects are most numerous in the 

 neighborhood of their breeding places, /. e. regions with low 

 and moist places, in which the early stages of these flies are 

 passed. 



There is another famih- of flies which is reputed to at- 

 tack man and domesticated animals for the sake of abstract- 

 ing blood. This family {A></I!d(£) contains a number of 

 blood-thirsty flies that resemble wasps, having a brownish- 

 yellow thorax, a narrow and very elongated abdomen with 

 variously colored wings, and very long feet, of w^hich the 

 first pair can grasp the insects they kill. They are very 

 common in Minnesota, but attack only insects, chiefly such 

 as move slowly. One species becomes verj' destructive to 

 bees, by selecting those that are carrying a very heavy load 



