1889-90.] a District itt the Himalayas. 297 



which secretes a white cottony substance in flakes, with which 

 it covers itself all over. The people of Gurhwal call it the 

 " debri insect," because it is generally found on the debri 

 shrub (Mceodendron BoxhirgJiii). 



As for the biting flies, the traveller has not to search for 

 them — they come to search for him. Last century, at Upsala, 

 Linnteus drew up what he called " A Watch of Flora," or 

 floral dial telling the hours of the day by the opening and 

 closing of the corollas of the common wild-flowers. In imi- 

 tation of him, I composed a somewhat similar entomological 

 dial for Gurhwal, to enable the traveller to tell the hour of 

 the day by the insect which was biting him. As drawn up 

 by me in 1866, it stands as follows : — 



Before sunrise. Midges. 



Sunrise to 8 a.m. Black flies, called by the natives mura. Bite remains 



painful for about a week. 

 8 A.M. to noon. Horse flies — native name, moniya. Bites bleed, and 



are painful, but only at first. 

 Noon to 3 P.M. Another species which creeps under traveller's 



clothes and bites him — dans fly. Pain temporary. 



3 P.M. to 4 P.M. Small black-and-white fly with green head. Bites 



smart unpleasantly. 



4 P.M. to 6 P.M. Mitra flies reappear. 



6 P.M. to 7 P.M. Midges reappear. 



7 P.M. to 9 P.M. Fleas and daddy-long-legs. 



Though this sketch could be much improved, it is, I believe, 

 correct, as far as it goes — at all events, for the month of May. 

 Some other nasty biting flies appear in June and July. Then 

 there are the land leeches of damp soil, but these bite you all 

 day long, and keep to no particular hour of the day. In the 

 hot weather they are only found in damp places, but during 

 the autumn rainy weather they are almost everywhere. In 

 some Gurhwal villages the inhabitants spread wood-ashes all 

 round the village, to keep out the land leeches. European 

 travellers often dip their stockings in salt-and-water before 

 putting them on. This, to a certain extent, keeps off leeches. 

 For protection against the mitra fly, they sometimes wear veils. 

 The natives, to keep off this fly, nearly always carry a leafy 

 twig in their hands, and use it as a sort of fan. With regard 

 to land leeches, the natives of Gurhwal simply look down 

 every now and then at their bare legs, and pick off any leeches- 



VOL. II. X 



