It may have been a horsefly. They have wings more like a moth than a fly & are quite big. The females bite horses, cattle & humans, the males just go for nectar from plants. They're not nocturnal as a rule - was the table light turned on ? They have fairly big eyes & a bite can be painful cos they have a sort of knife type apparatus that they use for *slash*you with, rather than a normal insect bite. Pat.xxx :o)) A Maid of Kent, UK. Your county needs YOU !!! http://FreeCEN.rootsweb.com Looking for ancestors in Kent ? Try: http://www.kent-opc.org.uk/ www.lawrence.eastkentgenealogy.co.uk Tonight - I've had a big shock ... It was an insect in my kitchen .. Believe me - when I tell you - I've never seen any insect like this before ... Time - about 3.30am --- It was 'walking' round the base of a table light I have in my kitchen - not exactly 'flying' but I could see wings - but not on it's back - like a butterfly or moth - more like 'tucked-in' like a ladybird ... But the strangest thing was - that it was hairy --- dark / light - brown - but not exactly yellow - more a dark dirty beige colour ... It was about 2cm long and 'fat' 1cm wide --- although this could have been just my imagination --- it probably was more like 1.5cm by 0.5cm --- still large - by my standards anyway ... I didn't hang around examining it closely - instead I grabbed some kitchen roll and squashed it in my fingers - and then gave it a real good squashing .. Then I opened the kitchen roll and took a look - "was it dead?" - was it heck - it was still wriggling - and it had something strange about it --- I sqashed it harder - even using the back of a teaspoon ... I opened the package up again - and yes - this time - I think it was dead .. But the strange things were still there - and they weren't dead ... There looked like tiny thripes on it - red - crawling --- or at least they looked as if they were crawling to me ... Urgh .... I hurriedly shut the package up again - got a plastic bag - and put the package in it --- I then tied a tight knot in the plastic bag - and threw it in the dustbin ... Afterwards - I was itching like mad - so took a shower ... Now does anyone out there have any ideas as to what this could be .. ? .... It was unlike any insect I've seen before --- a sort of a 'cross' between a wasp/bee and a moth - obviously drawn to the light --- or it could have been there to feed on the hundreds of storm flies which congregate round that table light at night ... Either way round - it's not doing it anymore --- not in my house it won't ... We've had some really high temperatures --- could this be a "foreign" insect ? - or just one I've never seen before ... They have been cutting the harvest round here this past few days - could this have come from there ... ? ... And finally - do insects have parasites like these red-thripe like thingies .. ? ....... Thank you ...... Sue [who is still itching] ==== GEN-TRIVIA-ENG Mailing List ==== RANDOM TAGLINE - GEN-TRIVIA-ENG - MAILING LIST Before you sent your mail - Please cut out as much of previous messages as is appropriate - and Please change the Subject Line if the Topic has changed.