TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 33 



The photo herein shows the 

 thick and broad tongue and the 

 long, sharp and dagger-like sting, 

 of which the central dagger is 

 most prominent and with which 

 it had perforated the wasp's abdo- 



Photomicrograph of the Mouthparts of 

 THE Humpback Prairie Fly. 



men. The stinging apparatus 

 of the horsefly is of nearly the 

 same anatomical structure, but 

 it has even bolder daggers, with 

 which it mercilessly tortures the 

 horses as well as all kinds 



Texas Horseflies 

 (Slightly Reduced) 



of cattle. They scarify the skin 

 and bore down to the blood 

 capillaries until blood oozes in 

 streams from the wound. 



Our prairies also harbor among 

 other such vituperous fly species 

 a very large, jet Wick fly, about 



the size of a cockroach. It, however, 

 is not as numerous and otherwise 

 conspicuous as this fly and the 

 common prairie cattle or horsefly, 

 but it occasionally attacks cattle 

 and horses, and it is supplied 

 with a, number of fearful looking 

 knives and daggers at its mouth 

 parts, and which the insect plunges 

 into the hide of the cattle, causing 

 the blood to ooze freely from the 

 large scarified wounds. 



Having captured one such fly 

 during an outing in Medina County 

 some time ago, I prepared a 

 photo-micrograph of the stinging 

 implements of the fly, showing 

 a number of sharp-edged knives 

 or lancets and dagger-like cutting 

 implements, with a main central 

 suction tube with which this insect 

 aspirates the oozing blood of ani- 

 mals, after scarifying the skin 

 with the other sharp instruments 

 which resemble those of our com- 

 mon prairie horsefly,. ;^; 



The original micro-photo of this 

 fly shows the mouth, stinging ancl 

 suction implements magnified ab^ut 

 fifty times by means of the photo- 

 micrographic apparatus and con- 

 centrated lamplight exposure. 

 Some vicious species of wasps and 

 the vituperous bumble-bee ajid nu- 

 merous other prairie insects show 



Stinging implements op a Large. Vicious 

 Prairie Fly 



