DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 365 



the Stable Fly. Bred in dung, and very common in 

 stables, it is unfortunately not rare in houses, where its 

 bloodthirsty habits bring discredit on the harmless little 

 Housefly (PL XVI., fig. 3), which it closely resembles, but 

 from which it may readily be distinguished by its slender 

 proboscis, which projects in front of the head. The 

 proboscis is geniculated near the base. It is, indeed, a 

 near relation, being in the same group as the genus 

 Musca, to which the Housefly belongs ; but whereas, in 

 the genus Storaoxys, a projecting slender, polished, and 

 needle-like proboscis forms an admirable instrument of 

 torture ; in Muse a the soft, short, fleshy tongue, with 

 the sight of which we are all so familiar, is totally 

 incapable of wounding the skin. The tongue of the 

 Housefly is iudeed adapted only for licking up such 

 fluid substances as are entirely unprotected and left 

 exposed to its action. The little creature has, however, 

 a ready mode of rendering soluble substances fluid, by 

 emitting a drop of clear water from the mouth from time 

 to time. Hard white sugar and similar substances by 

 this means become fit food for the tender little mouth. 



The larvae of the Housefly, like those of Stomoxys, 

 are found in dung. 



The " Bluebottle" Flies, so well known and so little 

 loved, are also species of the genus Musca. Of the 

 habitat of their larvae the reader needs not to be 

 informed. The " Greenbottle," a smaller, brighter, and 

 prettier Fly, is of the same genus. These Meat-Flies, as 

 they are called, are resembled in their habits by the 

 Flies of another group, also flesh-eaters, and thence 

 called Sarcophaga. The large, handsome chequered 

 Blowfly is one of these, and is worthy of remark as 

 being viviparous (or, more correctly, ovoviviparous), a 



