REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 503 



to throw liglit upon the many mooted points yet obscure in the pop- 

 ular mind. 



From the very fact that the region infested by these insects con- 

 tains many swamps, it was chiimed by many that the gnats origi- 

 nated in them and nowhere else. Others were convinced that low 

 and moist soil would produce them, since it had been observed that 

 such localities would harbor gnats in abundance, and that their 

 swarms would rise from the grass if animals approached. 



Even such absurd theories as that the Mississippi water coming in 

 contact with decayed leaves and similar material would spontane- 

 ously create them were stoutly maintained by some, while others 

 claimed that the gnats were produced out of mud without undergoing 

 any transformation whatever. There exists also a j^revalent opinion 

 among the more intelligent that the eggs are dejjosited upon grass, 

 weeds, &c., where they remain until the water of an overflow reaches 

 and submerges them, when incubation takes place. In this manner 

 eggs were supposed to remain sometimes for years, or until the nec- 

 essary conditions for incubation arrived with the cold water of the 

 Mississippi River. 



Many larvae, which are found in large numbers about decayed logs 

 and under rotten leaves in the woods, have given rise to the belief 

 that such were the young of their dreaded foe. The larvae of a fam- 

 ily of flies, the Chtro7iomidce, which occur in vast numbers in all the 

 water of the infested region as well as elsewhere, look somewhat like 

 those of the Simulium. Their general appearance and their actions 

 are very similar, and consequently they have frequently been mis- 

 taken for the young of the real culprit, and, in fact, were at first mis- 

 taken by our agents. But the flies resulting from these larvae are 

 very different, looking very much like mosquitoes with feathered 

 antennae; they also swarm in very early spring, but are innocent of 

 any harm to animals. 



We reproduce at Plate IX, Fig. 1, a figure of a Chironomus larva 

 which was found in the pods of Utricularia at Vineland, N. J., by 

 Mrs, Mary Treat. The figure was made by us at Mrs. Treat's request, 

 and was published as Fig. 9, of her article entitled "Is the Valve of 

 Utricularia Sensitive?" in Harper's Netv Monthly Magazine, Feb- 

 ruary, 1876, Vol. LII, pp. 382-387. We have also figured on the 

 same plate, at Fig. 2, a and h, the pupa of the same species and the 

 adult of Chironomus plumosus, a species common to both Europe 

 and America, and which was collected in great numbers by Mr. W. H. 

 Seaman at Chautauqua Lake, New York, August, 1886. 



HABITS AND NATURAL, HISTORY. 



The Egg. — The eggs of the different species of the germs Simulium 

 occurring in the lower Mississippi Valley have not as yet been discov- 

 ered,* but sufficient is known, from analogy with closely allied species 

 in this country as well as in Europe, to indicate the localities in which 

 to search for the eggs of one of the species, the smaller Turkey Gnat, 

 which is so common in the vicinity of small and rapid streams. 

 These creeks descend from an elevated region not inundated by the 

 Mississippi River. They are, however, greatly affected by an over- 



*Wliile this report is going through the press, word reaches us at Los Angeles, 

 Cal. , from IVIr. Webster, who was sent to Louisiana especially to look for them, that 

 the eggs have been discovered hj him. — C. V. B. 



