Flies, and various sorts of volatile insects, become more troublesome, and sting and bite more than usual before, as well as in the intervals of rainy weather, particularly in autumn, when they are very numerous, and often become great nuisance. This observation applies to several sorts of flies. The horseflies likewise of all sorts are more troublesome before the fall of rain, and particularly when the weather is warm.

Thomas Furly Forster, The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Natural Phenomena, published 1827