143 Obferoaltom on a deJlruSl'we Kind of tnfcBi 



fliadcd with grey ; the wings, which are pretty large and 

 broad, appear whitifh, with their veins, and lie over each 

 other. 



Such I found the Columbach gnat, and I have feen the 

 Siberian mofchara, or that common in the neighbourhood 

 of the Voltra, perfectly fimilar, only that it was fouiewhat 

 imaller, and had not fo broad white rings on the legs. I en- 

 tertain no doubt, therefore, that thcv are both of the fame 

 fpecies. I am alfo convinced that the cuhx reptans of Lin- 

 nseus is nothins; clfe than the fame infeA which is found 

 in the northern countries, fomevvhat fmaller and not ni fuch 

 abiuidance. 



Linnaeus found 2;rcat multitudes of the latter in the moun- 

 tainous diftrifts of Laphmd, whereas in Sweden they arc 

 more uncommon. According to his obfervalions, they attack 

 people principally towards Tun-fet, crawl over their whole 

 bodies, even into the mouth, nofe, and eyes, and cannot be 

 driven awav like other gnats, by Ihaking or blowin:^. If his 

 defcription in the Fauna Suecica be compared with ouis, it 

 will be found very little different. 



Thefe troublefome flies are fnimd here and there in the 

 faorthern forells of Kuflia, but finglv, and for the moft part 

 they run about amonsr the hair of the cattle. But on the 

 Volga, below Kafan, where that river begins to flow between 

 woody mountains, and approaches a warmer didrift, parti- 

 cularly from the neighbourhood of Simbirfk to Saratof and 

 Kamyfchenka, they are met with from the end of May to 

 the beginning of June in fuch aftonifliing multitudes in low 

 bufty places, and ihe woody hills fncltered from the wind, 

 that thev feem to fill the atmofphere, like hail, falling blindly 

 and with violence againft the face, which is afleftcd as if land 

 were thrown againft it; they fiy into the eves, nofe, and 

 mouth, adhere pertinaeioufly to the fkin, and with their 

 blunt trunks pierce it often in fuch a manner as to occafion 

 pain, fo that a bloodv punthire remains, though without 

 itching. Fifliermen, hunters, and ail thofe who, by their 

 employments, are expofcd to the open air, or who travel, 

 furnilh themfelves about the above period with a large net- 

 cap foaked in birch oil, becaufe it has been obferved that 

 the moj'chka, however blindly they rufh againft every thing, 

 never venture to fly againft thofe open nets which have been 

 foaked in the above fironsr-fmcllino- oil. Without thefe means 

 it would often be impoflible to open the eyes. When the in- 

 fcA has an opportunity of fafteniug itfelf on the ikin imper- 

 ceived, and of fucking the blood, it fills its belly till it ap- 

 pears like a blown-up bladder, and cannot be removed but 



b7 



