72 



THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS. 



The Black fly is even a more formidable pest than the mos- 

 quito. In the northern, subarctic regions, it opposes a barrier 

 against travel. The Labrador fisherman spends his summer on 

 the sea shore, scarcely daring to penetrate the interior on ac- 

 count of the swarms of these flies. During a 

 summer residence on this coast, we sailed up the 

 Esquimaux river for six or eight miles, spending 

 a few hours at a house situated on the bank. 

 The day was warm and but little wind blowing, 

 and the swarms of black flies were absolutely 

 terrific. In vain we frantically waved our net 

 among them, allured by some rare moth; after 

 making a few desperate charges in the face of the 

 thronging pests, we had to retire to the house, 

 where the windows actually swarmed with them ; 

 but here they would fly in our faces, crawl under 

 one's clothes, where they even remain and bite 

 in the night. The children in the house were 

 sickly and worn by their unceasing torments ; 

 and the shaggy Newfoundland dogs whose thick 

 coats would seem to be proof against their bites 

 ran from their shelter beneath the bench and 

 dashed into the river, their only retreat. In 

 cloudy weather, unlike the mosquito, the black 

 fly disappears, only flying when the sun shines. The bite of 

 the black fly is often severe, the creature leaving 

 of blood to mark the scene \ 



of its surgical triumphs. 

 Prof. E. T. Cox, State 

 Geologist of Indiana, has 

 sent us specimens of a 

 iruch larger fly, which 

 Baron Osten Sacken refers 

 to this genus, which is 

 called on the prairies, 

 where it is said to bite 

 horses to death, the Buf- 

 falo Gnat. Westwood 

 states -that an allied fly 67. Hessian Fly audits Young, 

 (lihagio Columbaschensis) is one of the greatest scourges of 

 man and beast in Hungary, where it has been known to kill 

 cattle. 



G6. Viviparous 

 gall larva. 



