ORDER VII. TWO-WINGED INSECTS, OR FLIES. 299 



pathic remedy cured him we never heard, as we left the 

 island soon after prescribing it, and have never heard from 

 him since. 



Formerly, when the negroes of St. Domingo were slaves, 

 elephantiasis was more frequent among them than it is now, 

 probably because they fed almost exclusively on the salted 

 flesh of green turtles. So at one time, many years ago, 

 about 40,000 people in the neighborhood of Cairo were 

 afflicted with that disease, on account of tfye immoderate 

 use of the flesh of different snakes, which they ate in order 

 to please their prophet Mohammed, and to appear as saints 

 among their fellow-men. But we do not intend to write a 

 treatise on diseases, nor to advocate any particular dogma 

 in medicine, and so must confine ourselves as closely as is 

 possible to our main subject. 



Among the flies with a fleshy proboscis there is none so 

 blood-thirsty as the HORSE-FLY (Talanus), and none have 

 so terrible a sting. This instrument consists of six sharp 

 needles, concealed under the proboscis, and so very sharp 

 and strong is it that it pierces the thickest skin of horses, 

 cows, and oxen, inflicting painful and bloody wounds. 

 These flies are a real pest to horses and cattle, following 

 them wherever they go, with loud humming, and, when 

 once reaching them, fastening on to their skin and piercing 

 it until often the blood oozes out in drops. Horses are 

 sometimes so covered with them that their whole body is 

 bloody, and the poor, tormented animals run away in their 

 madness, breaking whatever vehicle is attached to them ; 

 so, also, whole herds have sometimes become furious from 

 being stung by these insects, and have precipitated them- 

 selves into the first stream of water that they reach. 



This genus horse-fly (Tabcmus) must not be confounded 

 with the BOT-FLY (CEstrm), which also infests the horse, 



