MOSQUITOES OF THE NORTHWEST 133 



are too few details to justify a conchision. The abundance of such mating 

 Bwarms and the numbers of mosquitoes in them is, of course, an indication of 

 the abundance of the species as a whole. Such abundance may be normal and 

 occur from year to year, as with our northern mosquitoes, or it may be due to 

 unusually favorable conditions, such as increased breeding facilities for the 

 larvae. 



One of us has elsewhere stated (Howard, " Mosquitoes ") that Prof. E. W. 

 Hilgard, of the University of California, once wrote him that up in northern 

 Washington, in the pine forests north of Spokane, a gray mosquito seems to be 

 the sole possessor of the land, and is as fearful a nuisance as the mosquitoes in 

 arctic regions. "" The first thing on going into camp is to establish a close line of 

 smudges above the wind, so as to enable the pack animals and the men to eat in 

 comparative peace, but about midnight the entire swarm is back again." Pro- 

 fessor Hilgard further wrote that in Montana he has seen all the work-horses in 

 the field sheathed in sheets during the day, to protect them from the swarms of 

 mosquitoes, and these were dotted with small blood spots. 



Schwarz at Corpus Christi, Texas, in the late 90's wrote that at that place, 

 '"' when the wind blows from any other direction than south, ' hundreds of thou- 

 sands of millions ' of mosquitoes blow in upon the town. Great herds of horses 

 run before the mosquitoes in order to get to the water, but with a change of wind 

 the mosquitoes disappear." Many parts of the North American continent are 

 famous for the numbers of the mosquitoes in the neighborhood. Felt has called 

 attention to the fact that these insects are so aggressive in some localities as to 

 give name to a place. For example, there is a town named " Mosquito " in 

 Illinois, a village bearing the same title in Newfoundland, a Mosquito Creek in 

 Indiana, another in Iowa, and still another in Ohio, while the whole eastern 

 coast of Central America is known as the Mosquito Coast. Riley is quoted as 

 stating that the bravest man on the fleetest horse dares not cross some of the 

 more rank and dark prairies of Minnesota in June. 



Captain Butler in " The Great Lone Land " gives a vivid description of the 

 abundance of mosquitoes on the northwestern prairies in the early days. 



" As soon as the sun had dipped beneath the sea of verdure, an ominous sound 

 caused me to gallop on with increasing haste. The pony seemed to know the 

 significance of that sound much better than its rider. He no longer lagged, nor 

 needed the spur or whip to urge him to faster exertion, for darker and denser 

 than on the previous night there rose around us vast numbers of mosquitoes, — 

 choking masses of biting insects, no mere cloud thicker and denser in one place 

 than another, but one huge wall of never-ending insects, filling nostrils, ears, 

 and eyes. Where they came from I cannot tell : the prairie seemed too small to 

 hold them; the air too limited to yield them space. I have seen many vast 

 accumulations of insect-life in lands old and new, but never anything that 

 approached to this mountain of mosquitoes on the prairies of Dakota. To say 

 that they covered the coat of the horse that I rode, would be to give but a faint 

 idea of their numbers : they were literally six or eight deep upon his skin, and 

 with a single sweep of the hand one could crush myriads from his neck. Their 

 hum seemed to be in all things around. To ride for it was the sole resource. 

 Darkness came quickly down, but the track knew no turn, and for seven miles I 

 kept the pony at a gallop ; my face, neck, and hands, cut and bleeding. 



