PAEASITES 



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the middle of the dorsal surface of the reddish brown 

 abdomen. The thorax is hairy and brownish black 

 in colour, with dark stripes. The male is not aggressive. 



Htematopota plurialis, also known as the 'Cleg,' or 

 Horse Breeze-fly (Fig. 178), is very troublesome during 

 late summer ; the female pierces the skin 

 and lives on blood. The fly is narrow 

 and rather less than half an inch long, 

 with longitudinal pale stripes on the 

 thorax, and a pale band and greyish 

 spots on the upper surface of the abdo- 

 men. The wings have light coloured 

 markings, and the eyes are a beautiful 

 green. 



Chrysops ccecutiens, or the Blinding 

 Breeze-fly (Fig. 179), principally directs 

 its attacks around the eyes, and has been 

 found to produce conjunctivitis in horses 



Fig. 178. — Scemato- 

 pota pluvialis, the 

 Cleg or Horso 

 Breeze - fly ; en- 

 larged two dia- 

 meters. 



In length it is 



about 3 



inch. The wings are held somewhat apart, the 

 are golden green with purple lines and spots, the 



eyes 



female is brownish-black in colour with a yellow band 



across the abdomen. 



All these flies lay their eggs in the earth, and the 



maggots or larvae live on vegetable matter. The pupa is 



also in the soil. 



The family Simuliiche, previously alluded to, are some- 

 times called in America Buffalo 

 gnats, or 'black flies.' They 

 usually keep to wet places and fly 

 in swarms towards sunset. The 

 S. meridionale in America is re- 

 ported to kill animals, and a 

 species found on the Danube, 

 S. columbaschense, hardly larger 

 than a flea, is most aggressive 



and even death producing. 



The (EstridcB or Bot-flies are a very important family 



owing to the amount of damage they inflict on animals. 



They are divided into three sections according to the seat 

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Fig. 179. — OJirysops ccecutiens; 

 twice natural size 



