TWO-WINGED INSECTS 733 



blood which remains in the spot ; but this is a trouble- 

 some task when one has several hundred punctures in 



the course of a day [like Prince Siror, in one of Bulwer ~ 



Lytton's stories, who fell " pierced by five hundred M- 



spears"]. I took the trouble to dissect specimens, to 

 ascertain the way in which the little pests operate. The 



mouth consists of a pair of thick fleshy lips, and two , 



triangular horny lancets, answering to the upper lip and '" Plul . t w r Dand FZS 

 tongue of other insects. This is applied closely to the HOU SE _ FLY ^' AL AND FMA 

 skin, a puncture is made with the lancets, and the blood 



. . , i i The larva of the houte-fty live in refuse* so do not 



then sucked through between these into the oesophagus, th j rive whcrt J cl y eanllnea aho j und l 



the circular spot which results coinciding with the 



shape of the lips. In the course of a few days the red spots dry up, and the skin in time 

 becomes blackened with the endless number of discoloured punctures that are crowded together. 

 The irritation they produce is more acutely felt by some persons than others. I once traveled 

 with a middle-aged Portuguese who was laid up for three weeks from the attacks of Pium, his 

 legs being swelled to an enormous size, and the punctures aggravated into spreading sores." 



However, the traveler in Amazonia has one consolation : the great rivers which traverse 

 the forests are of three different colours ; and the black-water rivers so called from the dark 

 colour of the water, owing apparently to the amount of vegetable matter which they hold in 

 solution are never infested with mosquitoes. Probably the character of the water renders it 

 unsuitable to them for breeding purposes. 



The CRANE-FLIES, or DADDY-LONG-LEGS, are also very injurious insects, but in a different 

 manner, for their subterranean maggots feed on and destroy the roots of grass in the same 

 way as the grubs of the Cockchafers. They are insects of considerable size, with slender bodies, 

 terminating in a short, horny point (the ovipositer) in the female, and with long, slender legs, 

 which are liable to break off at the least touch. The commonest species has a grey body and 

 transparent wings ; but there is a larger one with the wings prettily variegated with brown, 

 and a smaller one in which there are yellow markings towards the end of the body. 



The more typical FLIES have usually shorter and broader wings, and thicker, shorter, and 

 more hairy legs, than those just mentioned ; and the antennae have usually only three or four 

 joints, and are often furnished with a long, slender bristle at or before the end of the last joint. 



As in the case of the Gnats and Crane-flies, so as regards the more typical Flies, we have 

 only space to notice a few of the more important families. 



Some of the GAD-FLIES are no larger than house-flies, but others are as large as wasps or 

 larger, with broader wings, and of a black, grey, or yellowish colour; they frequent fields, and 

 settle on cattle, or on our clothes or hands. Some have transparent and others dark-coloured 

 wings, but they are all capable of inflicting a severe puncture, often sufficient to draw blood, 

 even in the case of the smaller species. 



The prettiest of the gad-flies are the GOLDEN-EYED FLIES. 

 They are black, with the abdomen more or less marked with 

 yellow ; and black, or black and transparent, wings. The eyes 

 are of a beautiful golden green, dotted and lined with purple. 

 They are moderately stout insects, about the third of an inch 

 long, and are not uncommon. Another insect, known as the 

 BLOOD-SUCKING RAIN-FLY, has a rather long and slender body 

 for a gad-fly, and is nearly half an inch long. It is of a 

 lighter or darker grey, with reddish markings on the sides of 



ph.,, i, tf. p. Danj,. F.Z.S. theabdomen in the male. The wings are greyish brown with 



BLUE- B^rrT^LE FLY, OR whitish dots, and a white mark towards the tip. Both these 



flies are very troublesome, the latter chiefly on the edges of 



These jlies deposit their eggs on meat, 



when n becomes "fy-bhwn " woods or near water, especially in rainy weather. 



