140' Ohfervations 071 a dijjrti&h'e Kind of Infers 



The refiilt of this exciirfion, which was only an experi- 

 inent, can be ot no further life than to (how the poflibihty 

 of reachmg the crater, and to open the way to it to philolo- 

 phers, naturahlis, am.1 chemifts, who, by exploring this 

 immenfe furnace of nature at their leifure, will find a variety 

 of matters which will atTbrd an ample field for the application 

 of their chemical knowledge, and mav enable them to make 

 dilloveries interefting to the arts and the fcienccs. 



The names of the eight Frenchmen, in the order in which 

 thev defcended, are as follow : Debeer, fccretary to the am- 

 baliador Alquier ; Houdotiart, chief engineer of bridges and 

 caufcwavs attached to the armv of Italv ; Wickar, painter; 

 Dan>pierre, adjutjnl-comniandant ; Bagncris, phylician to 

 the armv of obiervation ; Frelfinet and Andras, French 

 travellers; and Moulin, infpeftor of polts. 



XXII. Ohfervattons on a ilejlrnfllve Kind ^f Irif/'fls found 

 infome Parts of the R?i(Jian E7>ipire, and in the Bannat of 

 Teincfvar. By Profrjjbr PallaS *. 



W E are indebted to mv friend Erunnich for the firft ac- 

 count of this deUrucHive infett, hitherto obfcrved only in the 

 Bannat of Tcmeiwar in Europe. I/mnaeus, in the Ihort 

 defcription which he gave of it f from an account tranfmitted 

 to him, compares it to that fmall gnat {culex cquinus) which 

 infefis horfes. Its principal colour is blackiHi; its bread 

 piojedls in a round form, and the hinder part of the body is 

 oval; the legs are pretty long; the thighs towards the body 

 are white, but black underneath ; the covering of the thighs 

 mofly white, at the extremity blackifh, the jomts of the legs 

 black, and the wings tranfparent. 



According to this defcripiinn, I found the greateft fimi- 

 larity between the gnat of the Bannat and the Ruffian mofch- 

 kara^ or ftinging gnat|, which, after an attentive compari- 

 fc>n, I find to agree perfciStly with the creeping gnat {culex 

 rcpians) of Lmnajus; and I fufpefted, from what I knew 

 of the abundance and deflrnctive nature of the Siberian in- 

 fers, that the gnat of the Bannat might belong to the larger 

 and more pernicious kinds in the warm mountainous didricts 

 of that country. I was, however^ deceived in my conjeilurcj 



' From Incite Nordifchr Bi.yluKy, vol. ii. 



•}• C'dex Laii'io Linn. Mant'ijf, I'l.wtar. ii. p. 541. 



+ Biiio fi>.'pi:lna>:':f.', Pnll;is Riifr, part i. p. 193; Appcml. p. 47c ; 

 hy ihc Ruiiiaus calltj r:"Ohka; in Siberia improperly 7nokriza; on the 

 Vol 15a t7iofcbkai<n. 



