BLACK-FLIES. ITS 



body, bulging thorax, eleven-jointed feelers, of which the 

 first two are separated from the rest; the broad abdomen is 

 rather short; the legs are powerful with broad tarsi; the 

 wings are broad and short. The body of these insects is in- 

 vested w^ith a fine downy covering; the males are darker and 

 more velvety, and possess broader and more hairy legs than 

 the females. The mouth-parts are very curious, and Prof. 

 J. B. Smith has demonstrated that the female, which is the 

 only one that sucks blood, possesses beside the usual sucking 

 organs, genuine biting mandibles. 



These small flies breed in rapidly flowing water, hence 

 are very numerous in the northern ]3art of our state where 

 streams abound. The adult flies are well-known tormenters, 

 and occur sometimes in such numbers as to prevent travel. 

 Prospectors, and surveyors, though usually thick-skinned 

 by living constantly out of doors, have been repeatedly 

 forced to leave a region thus infested. They even force the 

 Labrador fishermen to the coast in summer, as it is impos- 

 sible to live in the interior on account of these tormenters. 

 Prof A. S. Packard, in "Our Common Insects," relates his 

 experience in the following words: — "During a summer resi- 

 dence on this coast, we sailed up the Esquimaux River for 

 six or eight miles, spending a few hours at a house situated 

 on the bank. The day w^as w^arm and but little wind blow^- 

 ing, and the swarms of black flies w^ere: absolutely terrific. 

 In vain we frantically waved our moth net among them and 

 after making a few desperate charges in the face of the 

 thronging pests, we had to retire to the house where the 

 windows actually sw^armed w^ith them; but here they would 

 i^y in our faces, crawl under our clothes where they w^ould 

 remain and bite in the night. The children in the house were 

 sickly and worn by their unceasing torments; and the shaggy 

 Newfoundland dogs, whose thick coats would seem to be 

 proof against their bites, ran from their shelter beneath the 

 bench and dashed into the river, their only retreat. In cloudy 

 weather, unlike the mosquito, the black fly disappears, only 

 flying when the sun shines. The bite of the black fly is often 

 severe, the creature leaving a large clot of blood to mark the 

 scene of its surgical triumphs." 



