480 



OTHER BLOOD-SUCKING FLIES 



e/e 



--prol. 



--sal.gt. 



--di^.tr. 



first segment (Fig. 222 prol.) is used for creeping, in conjunction 

 with the posterior sucker, the larva looping along like a " meas- 

 uring worm"; it is also of use in constructing the silken cocoon 

 from the secretions of the salivary glands. This single little 

 leg has a crown of tiny booklets which make it possible for the 

 possessor to hold its ground even in a torrent of water. The 



salivary glands referred to are quite 

 unlike those of other insects, in that 

 they extend clear back to the pos- 

 terior end of the body (Fig. 222, sal. 

 gl.). The fluid secreted hardens to 

 silk at once on exposure to water, 

 and is used not only in spinning the 

 cocoon, but also in spinning anchoring 

 threads and life-lines. According to 

 Malloch, the larva when disturbed 

 releases its hold and floats downstream, 

 holding by the stumpy leg to a silken 

 thread which is being spun out, and 

 by means of which the insect later 

 regains its former position. The 

 larvse breathe by means of tiny gills 

 which can be projected through a slit 

 in the last segment of the abdomen 

 (Figs. 221 and 222, an. g.). The larvse 

 are never found solitary, as would be 

 venustum, side expected from the manner of laying 

 eggs; the author has seen the boards 

 on the bottom of a log chute com- 

 pletely covered with mosslike patches 

 of these larvse for areas of a square 

 yard or more. 



After four or five weeks, in summer, the larvse prepare to go 

 into the resting pupal stage, and spin for themselves a partial 

 cocoon which is variously shaped like a jelly glass, slipper, wall 

 pocket, etc., open at the upper end for the extrusion of the 

 branching gill filaments which are used as breathing organs (Fig. 

 22 1C). Some species simply spin a snarl of threads, the work 

 of a whole community, in the meshes of which the pupse exist in 

 a fair state of protection. The general form of the pupse can be 



crn.gr 



post. 3. 



Fro. 222. Larva of black 

 fly, Simulium 



dig. tr., digestive tract; m. f., 



f r d ; 



posterior sucker; sal. gl., saii- 



vary and spinning gland. 



