Horse-flies are large flies of the family Tabanidae that feed mainly on nectar. The males have weak mouthparts; only the females bite animals, including humans, to obtain enough protein from the blood to produce eggs. For this they use a stout stabbing organ and two pairs of sharp cutting blades to bite, and a spongelike part to lap up the blood that flows from the wound. They can transfer blood-borne diseases from one animal to another. They can also reduce growth rates in cattle and lower the milk output of cows if suitable shelters are not provided; some animals have lost up to 300 millilitres of blood in a single day to the insects. Horseflies prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and shady areas, and are inactive at night. They are found all over the world except for some islands and the polar regions. The larvae are predaceous and grow in semiaquatic habitats. Horse-flies have appeared in literature since Aeschylus in Ancient Greece wrote about them driving people to madness. Gadflies (horse-flies and botflies) are mentioned in Shakespeare's plays King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-fly

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1374:

An outbreak of dancing mania, wherein crowds of people danced themselves to exhaustion, took place in Aachen (present-day Germany), before spreading to other cities and countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania

1571:

Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi established a council to govern the city of Manila (Manila Cathedral pictured), now the capital of the Philippines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila

1812:

Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée under Napoleon crossed the Neman River, marking the start of their invasion of Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia

1937:

The United States' first two "fast battleships", the North Carolina class, were ordered from the New York and Philadelphia Naval Shipyards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina-class_battleship

1982:

British Airways Flight 9 flew into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Indonesia's Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four of its engines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

arborescent: 1. Like a tree; having a structure or appearance similar to that of a tree; branching. 2. (philosophy) Marked by insistence on totalizing principles, binarism and dualism (as opposed to the rhizome theory). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/arborescent

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Humor is … nearer right than any emotion we have. Humor is the atmosphere in which grace most flourishes.   --Henry Ward Beecher https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Ward_Beecher