322 Fiftieth Report on the State Museum 



render life a burden. In the frozen regions of the north where winter 

 reigns, their numbers have been compared to a snow-storm when the 

 flakes fall thickest, or to the dust of the earth. There are localities which 

 they are entitled to claim as their own, for explorers have been driven 

 back in agony from the attempt to penetrate them. To other localities 

 they have given name, as to Mosquito, a township in Illinois; Mosquito, 

 a village in Newfoundland ; Mosquito Creek in Indiana, another of the 

 same name in Iowa, and still another in Ohio ; and the Mosquito Country 

 of Central America. In certam districts of Louisiana and other of the 

 Southern States, their abundance diminishes by one-half the value of the 

 plantations. Those who have traveled in summer on the lower Missis- 

 sippi or in the Northwest, have experienced the torment which these frail 

 flies can inflict : at times they drive everyone from the boat, and trains 

 can sometimes be only run with comfort on the Northern Pacific rail- 

 road by keeping a smudge in the baggage car and the doors of all the 

 coaches open to the fumes. "The brav'est man on the fleetest horse dares 

 not to cross some of the more rank and dark prairies of Minnesota in 

 June" (Riley). The marsh lands of New Jersey and portions of Long 

 Island, you will remember are particularly noted for their abundance, 

 and the frequenter of the Adirondacks knows of their powers of annoy- 

 ance, as they compel him if particularly sensitive to their sting, to seek 

 relief in flight. 



It would seem that our English cousins have much less to endure from 

 this tormenting pest than we, for Professor Westwood has written : "The 

 mosquito is far more annoying in its attacks upon the inhabitants of 

 America than our European species is to us ; it is there requisite to have 

 their beds inclosed in a curtain of fine gauze to defend the sleeper from 

 their attacks." The Rev. Mr. Kirby, in his delightfully fascinating work 

 entitled " Introduction to Entomology," after a graphic recital of the 

 torments endured in various parts of the world from the mosquito's 

 poisonous sting, and the inferential conclusion that it were " a lesser 

 terror that the forest should resound with the roar of the lion or the tiger 

 than with the hum of the gnat," closes with this pceon of gratitude : 

 " With what grateful hearts ought the privileged inhabitants of these 

 ihappy islands to acknowledge and glorify the goodness of that kind 

 Providence which has distinguished us from the less favored nations of 

 the globe, by what may be deemed an immunity from this tormenting 

 pest ! " Evidently the fogs of England and London smoke are not 

 agreeable to the mosquito. 



