764 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



Prom the black and yellow which form its chief tints, and 

 which give it no small resemblance to a wasp, it has received 

 the specific name of vcspoidcs, or " wasp-like." The thorax is 

 quite black, and the abdomen is nearly so. Across the middle 

 of the abdomen runs a very broad band of deep yellow, just like 

 the colour of the common wasp. The wings are dark brown, 

 with a shining surface. When the insect is alive, the eyes 

 must present a very beautiful appearance, for even when the 

 creature has been dead and dry for years, these organs shine 

 with a coppery lustre that tells of long- vanished beauties. 



We now come to the enormous family of the Muscida?, in 

 vvhich is included such vast masses of interesting insects, that 



it is no easy task to make a 

 selection from them. In 

 fact, the whole work might 

 be devoted to this one 

 family alone, and then 

 not nearly exhaust it. 



Our first example is the 

 terrible Tsetse Fly (Glossina 

 morsitans). No one on look- 

 ing at this insect could 

 form the least idea of the 

 terrors which its presence 

 inspires Like many other 

 insects, it attacks man and 

 beast ; but it has this peculiarity, that while man is only affected 

 by the slight and brief pain caused by the puncture of the 

 proboscis, horses and cattle almost invariably die. The effect 

 of the Tsetse poison on them is most remarkable, the blood 

 being blackened and thickened, and the whole frame rendered 

 one mass of disease, the strongest muscles becoming so dis- 

 integrated that they can be broken to pieces by the thumb 

 and finger. 



The Tsetse lives on the banks of rivers, and it is a curiously 

 local insect, one bank of a river being free from it, while the 

 opposite bank will swarm with the flies. There is a long and 

 interesting account of the insect in Livingstone's travels. The 

 colour of the Tsetse is pale brown. It is about the size of the 



Flo. 509. — Glossina morsitans. 

 (Brown. - 



