INSECTS AND DISEASE 
BITING FLIES 
Stomoxys calcitrans. If ordinary house flies seem to be adding 
to their other vices by biting, it is a case of mistaken identification; 
the culprits are almost certainly the Stomoxys calcitrans, the “biting 
stable fly.”’ Its proboscis is long, slender, and pointed, not fleshy and 
blunt as is that of Musca domestica (page 5). The name, stable fly, is 
not very appropriate, as this fly is neither the most abundant fly 
about stables, as a rule, nor does it breed chiefly about stables unless 
a quantity of wet, fermenting hay or straw be present. Piles of 
lawn-cuttings or of weeds furnish more Stomoxys than do ordinary 
stables. Adults are more frequently found about buildings in damp 
weather and just before a storm than at other times, for which reason 
the saying has arisen that the biting of flies isa sign of astorm. The 
best method of control is self-evident—do away with the breeding 
places either by destroying the material, covering it so that flies 
do not have access to it, or drying it so that the larve cannot live. 

AV Getemaa. 
"6 
Fig. 8. THE BITING STABLE FLY (,S/omo.xvys calcitrans) 
The most conspicuous biting flies in the Northeastern United States 
belong to the Tabanidz and are variously called “‘horse flies,” ““gad 
flies,” and “‘green-headed flies.” The head is large; each antenna 
has three joints, the last being somewhat subdivided into from four 
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