70 Kansas Academy of Science. 



positions in the water, when pulled up revealed the presence of thou- 

 sand? of larvae and quite a number of pup«, the larvje being distributed 

 several feet below the surface of the water. The pupae seemed to be 

 firmly attached to the supports, but the larvae can move about freely 

 with a gait similar to that of a leech or measuring worm. The larvae 

 hold onto their supports in three ways, by the filaments at both extremi- 

 ties and by silken threads which they seem able to produce at will. 

 The majority of the larvae appeared to be almost full grown, though a 

 number of younger examples could be found. In most cases when 

 sticks were found infested with the larvae, these sticks were grossly 

 infested, the larvae seeming to mass together in extremely gregarious 

 fashion. Mr. Frierson said that he remembered cutting one stick which 

 I found heavily coated with gnat larvae and that he was sure it had not 

 come from a portion of the old 'Government raft' above. The question, 

 therefore, naturally arises as to when the eggs were laid on this stick. 



"An investigation of a large portion of the old 'Government raft' 

 about one-half mile above the bridge revealed no gnat stages, although 

 it is possible and probable that numbers of them could be found beneath 

 the logs where the water was moving swiftly. From the top of the raft 

 no swiftly moving water could be seen. 



"Mr. Frierson and I then rode to several low and swampy places 

 where the adult gnats had been very abundant a few days previously, 

 but I found very few gnats. I captured about two dozen specimens dur- 

 ing the entire ride of eleven or twelve miles, all of them being females. 

 Mr. Frierson informed me that the gnats always haunted more or less 

 the same places, and his assertions were borne out later by dozens of 

 people to whom I talked, both white and colored. These places always 

 seem to be dark, moist areas, and for this reason there is a popular 

 opinion that the gnats breed in swamps. Every man with whom I 

 talked voiced this same sentiment. 



"A planter living near the bridge, at whose house I stayed during the 

 later investigations, told me that the gnats always appeared in the 

 early spring after high water, and that they never bothered in the 

 least the teams used in plowing right along the bayou in which the 

 young stages were abundant. Back, however, in the old, deserted lake, 

 land or swamp, there were places where it was unsafe to take stock 

 unless the animals had been previously well greased. Another man on 

 the same plantation told me that the gnats were not nearly so numerous 

 now as in past years. This is probably due in some extent to the 

 cleaning up of the bayou and the reduction of ideal breeding places. 

 Also, another resident in the vicinity informed me that the gnat attacks 

 were always spasmodic and seldom lasted for more than two or three 

 weeks. He said that the gnats had been quite numerous in the back 

 land about a week before my visit, but that they almost invariably 

 disappeared with the advent of any continuous warm weather. I also 

 talked to a number of negroes and they practically duplicated all of the 

 above statements many times. 



"March 16. — Mr. Frierson to-day sent me out to the home of Mr. 

 Ernest Glover, so that I could be near the breeding places of the gnats. 

 This house, which was about a mile and a half from the bridge over the 

 bayou, I made my headquarters. On going down to the log jam at the 

 bridge and pulling out some branches and logs, I found the gnat stages 

 quite abundant, being mostly full-grown larvae and pupae. Contrary to 

 what I had expected, I found them occurring about as abundantly on 

 logs and sticks lying almost horizontally in the water as on those sticking 

 down perpendicularly. I found them, too, on much larger logs than I 

 had previously observed them to infest. A curious protective adapta- 

 tion was noticed about these creatures. I took several sticks, on which 

 larva were attached by thousands, and placed them in ideally swift 

 water in such locations where I could easily find them when I needed 

 the larvae for experimental purposes. 



