How I Found Livingstone Travels, Adventures And Discoveries In Central Africa Including Four Months Residence With Dr. Livingstone By Sir Henry M. Stanley
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"Not Much
Larger Than A Common House-Fly, Nearly Of The Same Brown Colour As
The Honey-Bee.
After-part of the body has yellow bars across it.
It has a peculiar buzz, and its bite is death to the horse, ox,
and dog.
On man the bite has no effect, neither has it on wild
animals. When allowed to feed on the hand, it inserts the middle
prong of three portions into which the proboscis divides, it then
draws the prong out a little way, and it assumes a crimson colour
as the mandibles come into brisk operation; a slight itching
irritation follows the bite."
The fly which I had under inspection is called mabunga by the
natives. It is much larger than the common housefly, fully a
third larger than the common honey-bee, and its colour more
distinctly marked; its head is black, with a greenish gloss to
it; the after-part of the body is marked by a white line running
lengthwise from its junction with the trunk, and on each side of
this white line are two other lines, one of a crimson colour, the
other of a light brown. As for its buzz, there is no peculiarity
in it, it might be mistaken for that of a honey-bee. When caught
it made desperate efforts to get away, but never attempted to bite.
This fly, along with a score of others, attacked my grey horse,
and bit it so sorely in the legs that they appeared as if bathed
in blood.
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