The African Tsetse-fly is not very unlike a house-fly, and is one of the worst pests to cattle in those parts of Africa which it infests; for any horse, ox, or dog attacked by it will infallibly die after a longer or shorter period of suffering, though wild animals and sucking calves are not affected by it. It used to be supposed that the fly itself infused some deadly venom with its puncture; but later experiments have led naturalists to the conclusion that the fly is not itself poisonous, but that it forms the channel of communication of some fatal disease, just as some species of mosquitoes convey the infection of malaria.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regent's Park.
TSETSE-FLY.
Destructive to horses and cattle in Africa.
The Blow-flies, or Blue-bottles, of which there are several species closely allied to each other, are common in houses; and a smaller brilliant green fly, called the Green-bottle Fly, is common on hedges. These are all flies which lay their eggs on fresh or putrid meat, when it is said to be "fly-blown." They will also lay their eggs in open sores; and in former days the sufferings of the wounded after a battle were often frightfully aggravated by this cause; and at the present day farmers would frequently lose sheep through their attacks, if they were not carefully tended in hot weather.
Various species of flies in Eastern Europe, the Southern States of America, Jamaica, etc., habitually lay their eggs in the mouths or nostrils of men and animals, and the resulting maggots cause dreadful suffering and often death. In India, and especially in the Eastern Archipelago, there are some brilliantly coloured, smooth, metallic blue and green flies as big as bumble-bees. There is also a family of flies allied to the house-fly, which have very bristly bodies, and are parasitic on caterpillars, like ichneumon-flies.
Photo by W. P. Dando F.Z.S.] [Regent's Park.
TSETSE-FLY (ENLARGED).