498 EEPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



on animals are mucli the same as that of the rattlesnake on the human 

 system. This seems to be the generally accepted opinion among the 

 more intelligent planters. The animal attacked becomes at first fran- 

 tic, but within a very short time it ceases to show symptoms of pain, 

 submits passively to the infliction, rolls over, and dies; sometimes all 

 within the space of three or four hours. Even if bitten by a very 

 great number of gnats death does not necessarily follow, and then it 

 is not always suddenly fatal. Mules which at night do not appear to 

 be seriously injured will often be found dead next morning. 



Animals of various kinds become gradually accustomed to these 

 bites, and during a long-continued invasion but few are killed towards 

 the end of it. It is a prevailing notion that the bite of the gnats ap- 

 pearing first is the most poisonous. It would seem to be more proba- 

 able, however, that the poison introduced into the systems of ani- 

 jnals — unless sufficient to prove fatal — may to some extent serve as 

 an antidote against that introduced later, and if this poison should 

 remain in the system with any stability, such a fact would also ac- 

 count for native or acclimated stock being less susceptible to the poison 

 from bites than that recently imported. There is no doubt that stock 

 freshly imported from Kentucky to Tennessee and Mississippi is more 

 apt to be killed than that raised in the infested portions of these 

 States, and that, having withstood one invasion, a second one proves 

 fatal but seldom. One reason why Buffalo Gnats appearing very 

 early in the season are more dangerous may be found in the fact that 

 the stock, weakened by exposure during the winter, have had as yet no 

 chance to gain in strength by feeding upon the early vegetation, 

 which it obtains previous to and during a later invasion. Conse- 

 quently, the resisting power of animals is greater later in the season. 

 Experience has also taught owners of stock how to protect the same, 

 and in comparison with former gnat seasons fewer animals are killed 

 of late. Prof. J. A. Schoenbauer, who wrote nearly one hundred 

 years ago about the Kolumbacz Gnats of Hungary, witnessed the 

 post mortem examination of a horse killed by these gnats. Upon 

 dissection it was found that not only was the anus entirely filled with 

 the flies, but also the genital orifices, the nasal passages, and the 

 bronchial tube and its ramifications. A case of this kind must be 

 very exceptional. No doubt gnats will sometimes enter these pas- 

 sages, but as a rule death is not occasioned in this manner. The loss 

 of blood and the terrible irritation of the skin by so many poison- 

 ous bites are reasons sufficient to account for the reflex irritation of 

 the nerves and blood poisoning. 



now ANIMALS PROTECT THEMSELVES. 



The different kinds of animals, knowing their tormenters by in- 

 stinct or experience, have various methods of ]3rotecting themselves 

 against their attacks. To run away is the first impulse of all; but it 

 is of no avail, since their enemies are too swift to be outrun. 



Horses and mules, if not harnessed or tied, become perfectly fran- 

 tic, and rush away hither and thither, roll themselves upon the 

 ground, dash off again wildly, and rei)eat these actions until they 

 become entirely exhausted. If they succeed in reaching an elevated 

 spot free from trees and accessible to the full rays of the sun, they 

 escape further severe molestation. 



Cattle act in a very similar way, but instead of searching for 

 higher, sunny spots, they prefer to rush through dense thickets, such 



