12 Bulletin No. 159 



SIMULID/E (SAND FLIES). 



The members of this family are rather small stout- 

 bodied, two-winged flies, as young-, living in the water of 

 rapid streams. Twenty-seven species of the genus Simulium 

 are listed from North America, of which three are known 

 to me to occur in Kentucky. To the accounts of these 

 species have been added below description of the turkey 

 gnat, which will probably be found here, and of the 

 European S. reptans. 



Simulium venustum (The Black Fly). 



This is the species of which I collected larvae and pupae 

 at Gary, Coleman, and elsewhere in the left Fork of Straight 

 Creek. It is known as a pest in northern woods, especially in 

 the Adirondacks, but has a wide distribution in this country, 

 extending from Canada and Minnesota southward to Texas, 

 Mississippi and Florida. The original description of the 

 species written by Say, a pioneer entomologist, of New 

 Harmony, Indiana, was based upon specimens collected at 

 Shippingsport on the Ohio River in 1823. He describes the 

 adult fly as black, with two pearly spots on the front of the 

 thorax and a larger one behind, the poisers black; the wings 

 whitish with yellow and iridescent reflections; and says of 

 it: "This pretty species perched in considerable numbers 

 on our boat at Shippingsport, Falls of the Ohio. It ran with 

 considerable rapidity, constantly advancing its long anterior 

 feet. Its bite is pungent." 



Harris, writing of the same insect in 1852, says "Travel- 

 ers and new settlers in some parts of New England are 

 very much molested by a small gnat, called the black fly, 

 swarms of which fill the air during the month of June. 

 Every bite that they make draws blood and is followed by 

 an inflammation and swelling which lasts several days. These 

 little tormentors are of a black color; their wings are trans- 

 parent; their legs are stout, and have a broad whitish ring 

 around them. The length of their body rarely extends one- 

 tenth of an inch. They begin to appear in May, and con- 

 tinue about six weeks, after which they are no more seen." 



