CHAPTER III 

 SOME OTHER FLIES AND THEIR DIVERSE HABITS 



Just as the common " house-fly " and the " lesser 

 house-fly" are often in error regarded as the same 

 species with an insignificantly small difference of size, 

 so the identity of each in turn may be confused with 

 several other species which are not uncommon, but 

 they are all normally outdoor flies. 



The chief of these is the excessively common stable- 

 fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, whose generic and specific 

 designations are well given, for they mean "sharp- 

 mouth," "kicking," the latter word denoting the action 

 of the tormented horse ; it has a long, thin, stiff, skin- 

 piercing, shining black trunk, furnished with two 

 lancets. It is an eager blood sucker. In size and 

 colour it rather resembles the house-fly, but anyone 

 who is keen sighted \vill recognise it at once by its 

 bayonet-like trunk, held projecting prominently in 

 front of its head. It is much addicted to basking out- 

 doors on sunny walls, but on the approach of darkness 

 or of inclement weather it will occasionally seek 

 shelter indoors. Its wing pattern rather resembles 

 that of the common house-fly, as has been previously 

 explained. 



Round about dairy farms Hamatobia stimulans, a 

 fly slightly smaller than the stable fly, with a striped 



