THE SALT-WATER FLIES 



(Family Ephydridce.) 



This family includes a number of insects of curious structure 

 and strange habits. The adults are generally sordid little flies 

 usually with clear wings. 



The larvse, as a rule, are aquatic or subaquatic, and are found 

 in waters strongly impregnated with salt. They occur near salt 

 wells and are found in the strongly alkaline lakes of the West. 

 Some species breed in pools of water strongly impregnated with 

 minerals, and one form is found breeding commonly in the 

 pissoirs of European cities. 1 have reared Brachydetitera argen- 

 tata, a handsome little species belonging to this family, from 

 larvse found in a small pool of water which was strongly impreg- 

 nated with horse manure from an adjoining manure heap. The 

 numbers in which the Ephydrid flies occur in the alkaline lakes in 

 our western country is something astonishing. They are found 

 in the Great Salt Lake, in Mono Lake, and others of the same 

 character. The waters of Lake Mono are very heavy and have 

 a nauseous taste, and when still the water looks like oil and feels 

 slippery to the touch, and it is said that no fish or reptile lives in 

 it. It swarms, however, with countless millions of these larvae, 

 which develop into flies which rest upon the surface of the water 

 and cover everything on the shore. The larvae and the flies drift 

 in heaps on the beaches, and hundreds of bushels can be collected. 

 Professor Brewer, of Yale University, has published an interesting 

 account of them from which these statements are drawn. It 

 seems that at certain times of the year the Indians used to come 

 from far and near to get them for food. They dried the puparia 

 in the sun and then rubbed off the outer skin. The Indians call 

 this food koo-chah-bee. Prof. Brewer says that it tastes like 

 patent meat biscuit and if one were ignorant of its origin it 

 would make palatable soup. Another species is found in great 

 quantities in Lake Texcoco, near the City of Mexico. 



