TABANIDS 



485 



tones, sometimes with brilliant green or green-marked eyes, 

 though in most species of temperate climates the huge eyes are 

 brown or black. The head is large, and in the male is almost 

 entirely occupied by the eyes, which meet across the crown of 

 the head (Fig. 224B), though in the females a narrow space is 



Fig. 224. Life history of a Tabanid, Tabanus kingi, a "seroot" of Sudan. A, 

 adult female, X3, B, head of adult male, X 3; C, egg mass, laid in crevices of rock, 

 X 5; D, larva, X 2j; E, pupa, X 2 J. (After King.) 



left between them. The antennse are of characteristic shape 

 (Fig. 211C) varying somewhat in the different genera. The 

 mouthparts (Fig. 225) are almost exactly Hke those of the 

 blackflies on a large scale. The stabbing and cutting parts 

 are usually short, heavy and powerful, though in one genus, 

 Pangonia, the proboscis is very long, enabling the fly to pierce 

 flesh' and suck blood while hovering in the air and to pierce 

 even through thick clothing. Most of the species are very 



