What is the best repellent for Black Flies?

Question

The kind that bite you on the beach? I tried Deep Woods Off, with DEET, but they totally ignored it, acting almost like it was delicious or something.

Answer 1

THIS REPTIL:

Dasia haliana

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Suborder: Sauria

Family: Scincidae

Genus: Dasia

Species: D. haliana

Binomial name

Dasia haliana

(Haly & Nevill,1887)

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Help improve this article by adding relevant internal links. (November 2007)

Tree Skink Dasia haliana is a species of tree skink found in the southern Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.

Description

Snout pointed, longer than the orbit : supranasals not in contact with one another ; frontonasal about as long as broad ; prefrontals large, just separated from one another frontal rather narrow, as long as or shorter than the fronto-parietals and inter-parietal together; interparietal very variable in size, when large separating the parietals ; a pair of nuchals ; 4 supraoculars, second largest, first and second in contact with the frontal : 7 or 8 supraciliaries, first longer than the others; an anterior and a posterior loreal, both longer than high ; temporal scales a little larger than those on the sides of the neck ; ear-opening not one-quarter the size of the eye-opening, with crenate margin ; tympanum deeply sunk ; dorsal scales with 3 or 5 obtuse keels, the two vertebral series of scales broader than the others ; 24 scales round the body ; preanals slightly enlarged. Tail tapering to a fine point, as long as or a little shorter than the head and body, the median series of scales below transversely enlarged. Limbs rather short ; the adpressed limbs fail to meet or just overlap ; toes moderately long, 17 or 18 lamellae beneath the fourth toe ; palms of hands and soles of feet with flattish tubercles, heel with larger ones, larger in the male than in the female. Yellowish-olive above, with broad black cross-bars which are about as broad as their interspaces, 5 or 6 on the neck and body ; a black mark upon the occiput, extending forward as two streaks on the top of the head and two lateral ones through the eye to the nostril; yellowish below. In the young the black bars are more conspicuous. (Smith, 1935)

From snout to vent 80 mm.

Answer 2

Don't know if it is the best but as a sailor I relied on vinegar slapped on elbows and ankles, the places most affected by flies and mossies.  OK you start to smell like a chip shop but the flying insects seem more repelled than the local ladies... give it a try..................... Good luck.