Twowinged Insects 



735 



Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regent's Park. 



TSETSE-FLY. 

 Destructive to' horses and cattle in Africa. 



of the head golden yellow in the male ; the wings are transparent, slightly tinged with pale 

 brown, and bright rusty yellow towards the base. 



The African TSETSE-FLY is not very unlike a house-fly, and is one of the worst pests to 

 cattle in those parts of Africa which it infests ; for any horse, ox, or dog attacked by it will 

 infallibly die after a longer or shorter period of suffering, though wild animals and sucking 

 calves are not affected by it. It used to be supposed that the fly itself infused some deadly 

 venom with its puncture; but later experiments have led naturalists to the conclusion that 

 the fly is not itself poisonous, but that it forms the channel of communication of some fatal 

 disease, just as some species of mosquitoes convey the infection of malaria. 



The BLOW-FLIES, or BLUE-BOTTLES, of which there are several species closely allied to each 

 other, are common in houses ; and a smaller brilliant green fly, called the GREEN-BOTTLE FLY, 

 is common on hedges. These are all flies which lay their eggs on fresh or putrid meat, when 

 it is said to be " fly-blown." They will also lay their eggs 

 in open sores ; and in former days the sufferings of the 

 wounded after a battle were often frightfully aggravated by 

 this cause ; and at the present day farmers would frequently 

 lose sheep through their attacks, if they were not carefully 

 tended in hot weather. 



Various species of flies in Eastern Europe, the Southern 

 States of America, Jamaica, etc., habitually lay their eggs in 

 the mouths or nostrils of men and animals, and the resulting 

 maggots cause dreadful suffering and often death. In India, 

 and especially in the Eastern Archipelago, there are some 

 brilliantly coloured, smooth, metallic blue and green flies as 

 big as humble-bees. There is also a family of flies allied to 

 the house-fly, which have very bristly bodies, and are parasitic 

 on caterpillars, like ichneumon-flies. 



There are other flies which easily 

 attract attention, such as the yellow 

 hairy fly found about cow-dung, and 

 some rather small species with 

 prettily variegated wings, which feed 

 on flowers or fruit. The cheese- 

 hoppers are also the maggots of a 

 small black fly. 



Besides these, there are some 

 aberrant parasitic families of flies 

 with long, hairy legs, and only one 

 or two joints to the antennae. These 

 are the FOREST-FLIES and BIRD-FLIES, 

 which attack horses and birds; and 

 also some wingless insects, such as 

 the so-called SHEEP-TICK (easily dis- 

 tinguished from a true tick by 

 possessing only six legs), the 



BEE-PARASITES, and the spider-like BAT-PARASITES. This parasitic group is also remarkable for 

 depositing full-grown larvse or pupae instead of eggs. 



The FLEAS are a small group of small wingless insects, with such powers of leaping that 

 it has been said that if a man was as agile as a . flea he could jump over the dome of 

 St. Paul's. The larvae of fleas are small, worm-like creatures, with bristles, but without legs ; 

 they probably live on any sort of animal or vegetable refuse. They subsequently change to pupae 

 in small cocoons, and emerge as perfect fleas, which live by sucking the blood of warm-blooded 



Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.] 



TSETSE-PLY (ENLARGED). 

 Showing the proboscis and veining of the wings more distinctly. 



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[Regent's Park. 



