THE STABLE-FLY 



125 



perhaps, because the Germans on the whole 

 are more scientifically inclined than we are, 

 but partly, I suspect, because the German 

 language lends itself more easily to express 



Fig. 37. — The Stable-fly (Stomoxys calcitrans). 



in one word — ^however long — the character- 

 istics of any given insect. 



The genus Stomoxys is generally called 

 in Great Britain the ' stable-fly,' but there 

 are other ' stable-flies.' One of the commonest 

 species of the genus is S. calcitrans, a two- 

 winged muscid fly, not at all unlike the common 

 domestic fly, Musca domestica ; but there are 

 one or two points which readily distinguish 



