THE GAD- OR BREEZE-FLIES. 169 
flies possess. As seen in fig. 140, plate XIII, which illus- 
trates the most common kind found in Minnesota, the 
Chrysops cestuans v. d. Wulp., the insect is also quite orna- 
mental in general appearance, being spotted and banded 
with pale yellow and white. 
A number of different kinds occur in Minnesota; all are 
very prettily marked insects, with wings wide apart, and 
with a flattened abdomen, square-shaped almost to the 
posterior end; the wings are colored with large hyalinespots. 
Notwithstanding their beautiful eyes and bright colors 
these flies are a great pest, and when at all numerous, stock 
of all kinds suffers very greatly. Man does not escape, and 
those who are in the habit of bathing in rivers and lakes 
know to their sorrow that such flies arealways lying in wait, 
and are not slow to attack them; they find their victims 
even before they have had time to undress, and the long 
proboscis of these blood-thirsty tormenters can be felt even 
through the undergarments. If they are at all numerous, 
bathing becomes a luxury that one can not enjoy at allin 
the open air. Animals also suffer greatly from their attacks, 
and they frequently make horses so frantic with apprehen- 
sion and pain that they willrun away. It seems that some 
prefer to puncture the domesticated animals around theeyes, 
and one species has on that account been named the ‘‘blind- 
ing chrys6ps.”’ 
Like the gad-flies these insects are most numerous in the 
neighborhood of their breeding places, 7. ¢. regions with low 
and moist places, in which the early stages of these flies are 
passed. 
There is another family of flies which is reputed to at- 
tack man and domesticated animals for thesake of abstract- 
ing blood.. This family (As/idw) contains a number of 
blood-thirsty flies that resemble wasps, having a brownish- 
yellow thorax, a narrow and very elongated abdomen with 
variously colored wings, and very long feet, of which the 
first pair can grasp the insects they kill. They are very 
common in Minnesota, but attack only insects, chiefly such 
as move slowly. One species becomes very destructive to 
bees, by selecting those that are carrying a very heavy load 
