182 PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 24, NO. 7-8, OCT.-NOV., 1922 



"Now near and nearer rush thy whirring wings, 

 Thy dragon scales still wet with human gore. 

 Hark, they shrill horn its fearful larum flings! 

 I wake in horror, and dare to sleep no more!" 



Samuel Rogers. 



Bryant, no doubt, had ample opportunity of observing the 

 insect in all its maritime lusciousness, as the following shows: 



"Fair insect that with threadlike legs spread out 

 And blood-extracting bill and filmy wing, 

 Dost murmur as thou slowly sail'st about 

 In pitiless ears full many a plaintive thing, 

 And tell how little our large veins would bleed, 

 Would we but yield them to they bitter need." 



But most of us will agree with Edward Sanford: 



"Our vein's pure juices were not made for thee, 

 Thou living, singing, stinging atomy." 



Butler's Hudibras, which abounds in curious passages, has this: 



" For as the fly that goes to bed 

 Rests with his tail above his head. " 



These lines apply accurately to the mosquitoes of the genus 

 Anopheles and perhaps may have been inspired by them. 



While it is impossible positively to identify members of the 

 Chironomidae in poetry, the following passage may, from cir- 

 cumstantial evidence, be assumed to refer to them: 



"Meanwhile, there is dancing in yonder green bower 

 A swarm of young midges. They dance high and low, 

 'Tis a sweet little species that lives but one hour 

 And the eldest was born half an hour ago." 



Owen Meredith. 



There are lines which suggest strongly the presence of the 

 Tabanidae, such as the following: 



"But he them all from him full lightly swept, 

 As doth a steer, in heat of summer's day, 

 With his long tai! the brizes brush away." 



Spenser. 



When we consider the great abundance and comparatively large 

 size and brilliant colors of many Diptera in the families between 

 the Culicidae and the Muscoidea, it seems remarkable that 

 poetry is silent regarding them. Such families, for instance, as 

 the Asilidae, the Stratiomyiidae, and the Syrphidae so rich in 

 beautiful forms, seem to be largely unknown except to entomolo- 

 gists. That the warble-fly of cattle, and very probably Hypo- 

 derma bouts, was familiar even to Shakespeare is shown by the 

 following: 



