MACHIAS – Black flies may be the bane of Maine in May and June, but they are just what the doctor ordered – in Arizona.

An Arizona laboratory for veterinary allergy testing and treatment is seeking 50 to 100 grams of dead black flies – dead and dry, at that.

That amount would provide about a year’s supply for the lab and its project.

Spectrum Labs Inc. of Tempe wants to extract the protein element from the insects to put into its allergy treatment sets for animals. Toward that end, the company, formed in 1989, has sought out the best source for black flies it could come up with – the Maine Blackfly Breeders Association.

What the lab discovered is that the Maine association is hardly a true source of black flies, dead or alive. It is nonprofit, humor-driven and purely charitable. “May the swarm be with you” is its buzz phrase.

But the editor of Maine Nature News passed on the name of the Breeders Association as a contact for the lab, and the request got one step closer to reality.

“We have had companies in the past that have supplied black flies for us,” said Kelly Urban, Spectrum’s general manager, in a telephone interview from Tempe.

“But for some reason, we’ve had a hard time locating them right now.”

Nobody really breeds black flies, as the Maine group’s name suggests. But the proliferation of the pests each spring makes tourists – and out-of-state laboratories – think that Maine has got a strong nature-based industry going here.

After realizing that the Arizona lab’s request was real, the black fly group recognized that they, if anyone, are in a position to help. They have agreed to gather enough dead black flies for the company to carry out its research. In turn, the lab will make a financial donation to the Breeders for their collection and sorting of the black flies.

Holly Garner-Jackson of Whiting is the most visible advocate of black flies, largely because the group’s tongue-in-cheek promotion of black fly jokes produces donations for its charitable giving.

“Do you realize how many dead black flies they want?” Garner-Jackson asked incredulously, now that the Machias-based group has taken on the project.

“Fifty grams is, like, 1.8 ounces. I don’t know how much one dead black fly weighs, so that’s a lot of dead black flies. Thousands and thousands.”

Better thousands of dead black flies than thousands of living black flies, most Mainers would agree.

The Maine Blackfly Breeders Association directors actually have a plan for how they will turn over the insects to the lab. They are asking anyone with a Mosquito Magnet to help, starting immediately.

Mosquito Magnets are trademarked devices found at hardware stores that came on the market about five years ago. Now, they’re the rage – in sizes that work over half-acre and 1-acre plots.

Coffin’s True Value Hardware in Machias is in its second season carrying Mosquito Magnets. Coffin’s sells them for $329 for the half-acre version and $479 for the bigger version.

“I’ve sold at least 30 of them just this spring and 20 or 25 last year,” said Greg Coffin, the store owner. “They really do seem to work.”

Mosquito Magnets stand 2 feet high in the field and weigh 30 to 35 pounds. They emit carbon dioxide to attract mosquitoes and other nuisance insects, which end up in a screened bag that can be emptied daily.

That’s just what the black fly gatherers want – the day’s catch. Not the overnight catch but what ends up in the bag by day alone.

“Empty the bags before it gets dark and save those contents,” Garner-Jackson said. “And whatever you catch by night, which would be a mix of mosquitoes and moths, throw away.”

That’s because black flies are a hazard of the day but don’t come out at night.

Garner-Jackson and her black fly colleagues – namely Marilyn Dowling of Jonesboro, Laurel Robinson of Machias and Jim Wells of Machiasport – will sort the black flies from the mosquitoes by hand.

Fortunately, the sorters won’t have to sort the black flies according to sex.

They could, though, if asked.

They learned how to tell male black flies from female black flies over the June 4-5 weekend. They traveled to Morin Heights, Quebec, for that town’s first Blackfly Festival as its honored guests with considerable experience with black flies.

The guest lineup also included an entomologist who taught them how to tell male from female.

“The male black fly’s eyes are much bigger and they even meet in the middle,” Garner-Jackson said. “But it’s only the female black flies who bite.”

The males spend their time, Garner-Jackson said, pollinating prolifically and keeping the species intact – all the better, she adds, for the viability and reputation of the Maine Blackfly Breeders Association.

Daily catches from Mosquito Magnet bags can be dropped off in Machias at Holly Garner-Jackson’s workplace, the Woodwind Gallery at 62 Dublin St. (U.S. Route 1). Contact the Maine Blackfly Breeders Association at 255-3727 for more information.