The Muscidce 



117 



Muscidae 



The following Muscidse, characterized elsewhere, deserve special 

 mention under our present grouping of parasitic species. Other 

 important species will be considered as facultative para- 

 sites. 



Stomoxys calcitrans, the stable-fly, or the biting house- 

 fly, is often confused with Musca domestica and therefore 

 is discussed especially in our consideration of the latter 

 species as an accidental carrier of disease. Its possible 

 relation to the spread of infantile paralysis is also con- 

 sidered later. 



The tsetse flies, belonging to the genus Glossina, are 

 African species of blood-sucking Muscidas which have 

 attracted much attention because of their r61e in trans- 

 Bitting various trypanosome diseases of man and animals. 

 They are characterized in Chapter XII and are also 

 discussed in connection with the diseases which they 

 convey. 



Chrysomyia macellaria, ( = Compsomyia), the "screw worm"-fly 

 is one of the most important species of flies directly affecting man, 

 in North America. It is not normally parasitic, however, and hence 

 will be considered with other facultative parasites in Chapter IV. 



Auchmeromyia lute- 

 ola, the Congo floor 

 maggot. This is a 

 muscid of grewsome 

 habits, which has a wide 

 distribution throughout 

 Africa. The fly (fig. 86) 

 deposits its eggs on the 

 ground of the huts of the 

 natives. The whitish 

 larvae (fig. 85) on hatch- 

 ing are slightly flat- 

 tened ventrally, and 

 each segment bears 

 posteriorly three foot- 

 pads transversely arranged . At night the larvae find their way into the 

 low beds or couches of the natives and suck their blood. The adult 

 flies do not bite man and, as far as known, the larvae do not play any 

 r61e in the transmission of sleeping sickness or other diseases. 



Auchmeromyia luteola (x4) . After Graham-Smith. 



