330 ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



neglected, amputation sometimes becomes necessar^\ Where 

 shoes are worn, the insects do not often succeed in reaching their 

 favorite points of attack ; but if they do, a prompt use of the 

 needle or knife or a rnercurial ointment will prevent trouble. A 



Fig. 378. 



' 'Jigger'' flea, 5a7^cc'/'Jr>'//a/^?;^^?/'?'^2?^^.— Female distended with eggs, from side and front. 



Fig 



moist quid of tobacco bound over the infested spot usually re- 

 sults in killing the insects, so that the wound can be cleaned and 

 left free to heal. 



The metamorphosis of the fleas is complete, like that of the 



true flies. 



The most obvious division among 

 the true flies, for our purpose, is 

 based upon the character of the an- 

 tennae, or feelers. There are two 

 series, those with long horns or feel- 

 ers much exceeding the head, and 

 those with short horns, having usu- 

 ally only two or three visible seg- 

 ments, one of which is often fur- 

 nished with a specialized bristle, or 

 ' ' arista. ' ' The divisions are by no 

 means sharply limited scientifically, 

 but are sufhciently distinct for the 

 species of economic importance. 



The Tipulidcs, or "crane-flies,'' 

 is the first family of economic inter- 

 est, and its members are recognizable by their resemblance to 

 exaggerated mosquitoes. They are usually quite large, with 

 many-jointed, slender, thread-like antennae and scarcely shorter 

 maxillary palpi. The legs are abnormally long and ungainly, 



Antennae in flies. — a, tip of plu- 

 mose antenna ; b, joints verticil- 

 late ; c, aristate, the arista bare; 

 d, arista plumose at base; e, arista 

 plumose to the tip. 



