found tnfotne "Parts of the Rujfutn Epipirf. 141 



by feverjll circumftanccs mentionetl In Grifclini's Natural 

 Hiftory of the Bannat*, and his defcriptiou of this irnat, 

 which is totallv unlike that of Brunnich. According:; to Gri- 

 lelini, it is larger than the common gnat, and perfet'-^tly like 

 it in the conformation of its hody ; its head is alio armed 

 with feelers, and it has a fmall probofcis ; the bread is 

 blackidi at the top, foniewhat hairv, and on the lower part 

 white ; the fore legs are fhort, and the hind larirell ; the ex- 

 tremity of the bodv confilts of lead-coloured rings, each of 

 which is iurrounded by a black line Grifelini fays nothing 

 of white rings on the feet, and at the end names the infect, 

 contrary to the expreffion of his own defcription, a gad-fly 



In this uncertainty, the laft clreumftance led me to con- 

 je6lurc that Grifelini, perhaps, might not be a very expe- 

 rienced entomologiil ; and as he deicribed his infect in the 

 time of harved, and as the real deUruiilive gnats appear on 

 the other hand in the fpring, I fuipecSted tharProfelTor Brun- 

 nich might have deicribed the proper infect, and that Grife- 

 lini had only feen fonie of the other kinds, which appear ia 

 large fwarms. My doubts on this fubjecl induced me to 

 apply to Baron von Born, to whole information I had often 

 been before indebted ; and by his means I obtained a fin all 

 xoUeftion of real Colunibach gnats, among which I diiHn- 

 guiflied, on the firll view, the Ruflian mofhhara of a confi- 

 derable fize, and even an infect which I had i'o often wiflied 

 to procure when collecting plants and infects in the Altai 

 mounlains, and on the Volga. 



They are fmall Hies, as thick but much fliorter than the 

 common gnats, and wiiich, according to their chara6teriftic 

 marks and form, have a greater refemblance to the hlhkncs 

 of Geoflroy than to gnats. Their breatt, which is Itrong, 

 projects in a round form ; the head is Hat, and at the top 

 ends in a fliarp oblique edge, has at the fidej oblonD; eyes, 

 and below tapers to a probofcis, v.hich ends in two fnarp 

 points, not unlike the fting of the gnat ; the feelers are of a 

 brownifli yellow colour, thick and tharp pointed, placed near 

 each other on the forehead; the legs are much Ihorter than 

 thofe of the gnat ; the thighs and part next the joints of the 

 legs are all white, and only blackifh towards the ends; on 

 fome the thighs towards the body were whitiih; the extremity 

 of the body, which appears very dry and contracted, is fur- 

 roundtd with rings of brown, out the breali appeats black, 



'' Gi if; lilt! Fetfiich einer polilifcben und naturlUben Qfjchicbsc di-i Te- 

 meJiUituT BunitMi. Vienna, J780; pari li. p. 123. 



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