Black fly season is upon us. Do you have a repellent or home remedy you swear by? Or an account of how bad they are in your area? Let us know via e-mail.

Black fly season in Maine typicaly runs from mid-May to early July. Black flies tend to visit southern Maine a little earlier while northern Maine's black fly season lasts a couple of weeks later.

Black flies are most likely to be encountered in wet and wooded areas. They become less ferocious when there's a slight breeze. The best way to protect yourself against them is by wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts. Netting is also said to be effective.

Gritty McDuff's Brewery named its popular stout in honor of Maine's black flies and uses a swarm of black flies as the logo on its "Black Fly Stout" beer bottles and taps. See label.

Unlike mosquitoes which feed on human blood by use of a syringe-like proboscis, black flies carve open a small hole in the skin and suck the blood. The black fly bite, while not painful, can be itchy and irritating. Like mosquitoes, only the female black flies feed on blood.

Comedian Tim Sample calls black flies, "the unofficial state bird."

There are 40 species of black flies found in Maine. The most common species belong to the genus Simulium. More than 1,800 species are know to exist worldwide. Elsewhere, they are called buffalo gnats.