100 



DIPTERA. 



nent blood-suckers. The Simulidse or Sand-flies are 

 fortunately represented in this country by few species, 

 only two being generally distributed. They are even 

 more troublesome than gnats or mosquitoes in the 

 northern parts of Europe and in several parts of North 

 and South America, where they abound. They are 

 found in damp marshy places and fly in great swarms, 

 and bite severely. In the Bannat of Temesvar, in 

 Hungary, the myriads of SimuUum Colombasckense 

 often prove fatal, not only to cattle, but to man- 

 kind. 



The family of the Chlronomydce contains the Midges, 

 small gnat-like insects, whose larvae live in water or in 



wet ground, but a 

 few dwell beneath 

 the bark of trees ; 

 some species occur in 

 innumerable mul- 

 titudes, and must 

 contribute, as Mr. 

 F.Walker says, "to 

 remove or change 

 the decaying vege- 

 table matter, which 

 is their earliest 

 food." These in- 

 sects may be often 

 seen in summer 



Larva of Gnat natural size and magnified). CVCningS lU im- 



mense swarms ho- 

 vering in the air. The larva of Chironomus plumosits 

 is the blood-worm, so abundant in stagnant water. The 



