174 ZOOLOGY. 



swarm of sand flies settles on a herd of cattle or on 

 some horses, these animals become maddened and 

 furious; they often rush wildly round for so long 

 that they fall down dead. Simulia reptans is a 

 common British form. Bemedies : Compare what is 

 said on p. 1 65, about gnats. Sand flies can usually be 

 kept from horses' ears by means of ear-caps. 



Family : Tabanidse {Gad Flies). 



Large or medium-sized flies with thickset body, 

 large broad head, flat abdomen, and strong legs. The 

 proboscis is less developed in the male, which lives 

 merely on plant juices, than in the blood-sucking 

 female. The cylindrical whitish larvEe live in earth, 

 and are harmless. But the female insects bite human 

 beings, and the larger kind attack horses and cattle 

 in such a manner that blood-drops may be seen on 

 the ground under the animals 

 attacked, if these remain for 

 a time in the same spot. 

 There belong to this family : 

 1. The Breeze Flies (Tabanus), 

 large insects up to | inch 

 long, which are seen flying 

 about with a buzzing sound 

 N\»..s.v,. over meadows and fields in 

 '''"iit7*S'o»S)!'''^ the sunshine (Ox Fly = T. 

 oovinus ; Horse Fly = T. 

 autumnalis). 2. The lesser Breeze Flies {Hmmatopota), 

 smaller and more slender, with grey wings, bite 

 most before a storm and in hot sultry days. 3. The 

 Blinding Breeze Flies (Chrysops), as large as the Lesser 

 Breeze Flies, but broader, with shining golden-green 

 eyes and wings marked with black. Remedies : 

 Compare p. 165, and above ; draining the soil, how- 

 ever, is no good here. 



