[This widely distributed family of flies has a few species which suck the blood of man, and the writer has been personally badly bitten in Norway by a Leptis which was apparently Leptis scolopacea.
[The Leptidæ have usually blotched wings and similar venation to Tabanus; they are elongated flies of moderate or large size, and of dull colours. The antennæ are varied and consist of three segments, either with or without a terminal bristle or with the third segment compound, and in a few they may be almost nematocerous. The wing veins are distinct, very crowded anteriorly, the third long vein is furcate, basal cells large, and there are usually five posterior cells, the anal cell being open in some; the squamæ are always small, sometimes only rudimentary.
[Four are known to be blood-suckers, namely the American Symphoromyia, Trichopalpus obscurus in Chili, and Leptis strigosa and L. scolopacea in Europe. The genus Symphoromyia has a single spur on the hind tibiæ, none on the fore or mid tibiæ, the third segment of the three-ringed antennæ kidney-shaped, and a short proboscis. In the genus Leptis the hind tibiæ have two spurs, and the third antennal segment is not reniform.
[The other biting genus Trichopalpus can be told at once by the elongated proboscis. Most of this family live upon other insects. The larvæ live in earth, decaying wood, sand, stagnant waters, and the nests of wood-boring beetles; they are usually cylindrical and may have fleshy abdominal legs; the anal segment has a transverse cleft, and often two posteriorly directed processes and two stigmata between them. They are all predaceous, and in one genus (Vermileo) make pitfalls in sand like the ant lions (Myrmeleon).
Blood-sucking Muscidæ.
[The blood-sucking Muscidæ are mainly contained in the following genera: Glossina, Stomoxys, Hæmatobia, Lyperosia, Stygeromyia, Philæmatomyia and Bdellolarynx.
[The first is the most important genus on account of the part it plays in the spread of trypanosome diseases. Stomoxys may also serve as a disease carrier. The remainder and a few more genera cause considerable annoyance by their bites, and may also act as occasional carriers of pathogenic organisms. All these flies have their mouth parts elongated to some extent, forming a distinct proboscis, which becomes more or less strongly chitinized; the labella are usually serrated or spiny, and thus form a structure easily capable of piercing the skin. Unlike the Culicidæ, the blood-sucking Muscidæ have the sanguinary habit common to both sexes.
Genus. Glossina, Westwood.
