Belonging to another family, and smaller, but much like the buffalo-gnat in habits, are the minute little "punkies" or "no-see-ums" which sometimes occur in great swarms in certain regions where they make life a burden to man and beast. While it has not been shown that either the buffalo-gnats or the punkies are responsible for the transmission of any disease, their habits of feeding on so many different kinds of wild and domestic animals as well as on man makes it possible for them to act as carriers of parasites that might under proper conditions become of serious importance. Then, too, the irritation caused by the bites of these insects usually causes scratching which may result in abrasions of the skin that open the way for various harmful germs, particularly those causing skin diseases. Coming now to the group containing the house-flies and related forms we find a number that are of interest on account of the suffering that they may cause, particularly in their larval stages. The screw-worm flies (_Chrysomyia macellaria_) are among the most common and important of these (Fig. 25). These "gray flies," as they are sometimes called, lay a mass of three or four hundred eggs on the surface of wounds. The larvæ which in a few hours hatch from these make their way directly into the wound where they feed on the surrounding tissue until full grown when they wriggle out and drop to the ground where they transform to the pupa and later to the adult fly. Of course their presence in the wounds is very distressing to the infected animal, and great suffering results. Slight scratches that might otherwise quickly heal often become serious sores because of the presence of these larvæ. Many cases are recorded of these flies laying their eggs in the ears or nose of children or of persons sleeping out of doors during the day. Especially is this apt to occur if there are offensive discharges which attract the fly. In such cases the larvæ burrow into the surrounding tissues, devouring the mucous membranes, the muscles and even the bones, causing terrible suffering and usually, death. The larvæ in such situations may be killed with chloroform and, if the case is attended to before they have destroyed too much of the tissues, recovery usually occurs. The blow-flies (Fig. 26) (_Calliphora vomitoria_) and the blue-bottle flies (Fig. 27), (_Lucilia spp._) and the flesh-flies (Fig. 28) (_Sarcophaga spp._) all have habits somewhat like the screw-worm fly. Any of them may lay their eggs in wounds on man or animals with the same serious results.