58 
INSECTS. 
Sand-Flies, etc 
COLUMBATSCH FLY 
(enlarged). 
The two families now to be mentioned have been termed the 
anomalous, or fly-like Nematocera, since although their antennae are 
many-jointed, they are shorter than in the foregoing families, and their limbs and 
bodies instead of presenting the aspect of those of the gnats and midges, are shorter, 
thicker, and closely approach in this respect those of ordinary flies. To the family 
Simuliidce belong the minute “sand-flies” of the tropics, which surpass even the 
mosquitoes in their venomous bite, and on account of their minute size are far more 
difficult to cope with. In these insects the mouth-parts are adapted 
for piercing; and the early stages of life are passed in water. The 
best known European example is the Columbatsch fly (Simulia 
columbatzensis), taking its name from a village in Servia, where 
it is a great pest. In fact, in all the countries irrigated by the 
lower waters of the Danube, this fly, hardly larger than a flea, 
abounds; and it is said that in Hungary cattle and sheep have 
been destroyed by hundreds owing to the tortures they have 
suffered from these insects. The little flies creep into the eyes, 
nose, and ears of their victims, and there gorge themselves with blood, driving the 
poor beasts to the verge of madness by the intolerable irritation of their bites. 
The second family of the group ( Bibionidce ) contains the well-known St. 
Mark’s fly (Bibio marci), a large, black, hairy, slow-flying insect, common in spring, 
and taking its name from its being frequently seen in numbers on or about St. 
Mark’s Day. The two sexes differ greatly in many respects, the male having the 
wings clear, whereas those of the female 
are dusky; again the eyes in the male are 
so large that the entire head seems to be 
composed of them, but in the female these 
organs are small and wide apart. This 
distinction, however, although not usually 
in so pronounced a form, is observed 
between the two sexes of many flies. The 
eggs—in number amounting to about one 
hundred and fifty—are laid on the ground 
among vegetable or animal debris, on which 
the larvae subsequently feed. In the grub 
the head has neither eyes nor recognisable 
antennae, but the mouth-parts are distinct; 
the body consisting of twelve segments, 
each of which is surmounted by a row of bristles. After passing the winter in the 
soil in an immature state, the larvae ascend to the surface in the spring, and take 
on the pupal stage, from which, after about a fortnight’s time, the perfect insects 
emerge. 
st. mark’s fly (nat. size, with enlarged figure of 
larva and pupa). 
Horse-Flies, or Although related to the gnats and midges by the nature of the 
Breeze-Flies, slit through which the pupa makes its escape from the larval skin, 
and consequently referred to the section Orthorrhapha, the flies of this family 
approach those of the second section in the shortness of their antennae, and since 
all the Diptera with short antennae were formerly termed the Brachycera,—as 
