GADFLY, or HORSE-FLY. A fly of the family Tabanidw, distinguished from other two winged flies by having the last segment of the short antennae ringed and not terminating in a bristle. The proboscis is fleshy, and envelops pointed horny processes by means of which the skin is punctured. The head is broad and short and the eyes are huge. About 1500 species are named. All are powerful fliers, and the females suck the blood of quadrupeds and man; although they, like the males, can also live on the sweets of plants. As an extreme adaptation the genus Pangonia of India and Nubia is remarkable, for the proboscis of the female is in some species three or four times as long as the body, and is stiff and needle-like, so that it can easily pierce thick clothing. The larvae of the Tabanithe are some of them aquatic; others live in the earth; others in decaying wood. Like the adults, they are predaceous, sucking the juices of insect larva:, of worms, and of snails. The pupa looks
much like the chrysalis of a butterfly.
The common representatives of the Tabanithe may be uniform black, with a bluish tinge, as in the case of the large mourning horse-fly (Ta bonus atratus), or of medium size, with green heads or golden eyes; the latter are also known as 'deer-flies.' To protect horses driven over in fested roads—such as those passing through pine woods—netting should be used. An application of fish oil and carbolic acid to points not easily reached by the tail is recommended. Consult, in addition to works mentioned under FLY : Osten-Sacken, "Prodrome of a Monograph of the Tabanithe of the United States," in Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. ii. (Boston, 1875-78) ; Williston, "Notes and De scriptions of the North American TatbanidT," in Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, vol. x. (Lawrence, 1888).