SOME OTHER FLIES 17 



thorax and a blood-sucking trunk, will often leave the 

 cattle to assail humanity. A still smaller, somewhat 

 hairy, muscid type of fly, Lyperosia irritans, is also a 

 common aggressor of oxen throughout the summer. 



Musca corvina, the raven-fly, is smaller than the 

 house-fly ; it has very distinct dark markings ; the 

 abdomen of the female is chequered, but that of 

 the male has a black central stripe on a yellowish 

 abdomen. It frequents gardens, parks, and meadows. 

 It is much less prolific than the house-fly, with which 

 it shares the sweat-fly pestering habit. 



Cyrtoneura simplex is a little smaller and more 

 common than the species last mentioned ; its larvae 

 are bred in the dung of cows and other animals which 

 it very severely pesters. However, many species of 

 dung-bred flies do not in the least participate in the 

 cattle-pestering habit. 



The Antkomyidcs are a family of about 250 small and 

 medium sized garden frequenting and country flies, 

 mainly of flower and honey seeking habits. Neverthe- 

 less, some are dung-frequenting ; none are blood-suck- 

 ing, but several are cattle-pestering sweat-flies, which, 

 even more pertinaciously than the house-fly, will circle 

 round one's head and repeatedly buzz against one's face. 

 Of these, the small Hydrotcea irritans and Hy. deutipes 

 are amongst the worst offenders. A few of the Antho- 

 myida are vegetarian garden pests ; the larvae of the 

 cabbage-fly, the root-fly, the onion-fly and the celery- 

 fly are, in some seasons, very destructive. The so- 

 called "turnip-fly" is a small striped beetle of the 

 same genus, Phillotreta, as the unstriped " flea-beetle" 

 of the hop-fields. The larvae of the majority of the 



