REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL IKDUSTRT. 461 



marketable for a time, and often the, animal is never after fit for 

 market. Milk, when the gnats are so extremely abundant, is unfit 

 for use. 



Swine, when seriously attacked, are often killed, or if not, are so 

 injured and " stunted" that they are unfit for pork. 



Poultry suffer in much the same manner, and while incubating 

 are often killed outright, 



EFFECT OF BITES. 



No one who has once been bitten by one of these gnats will ever 

 after, for a moment, doubt the excruciating torture which they 

 must necessarily inflict upon dumb brutes, which, by nature, are 

 incapable of protecting themselves. Although I can not state from 

 personal observation, and sincerely hope I may never be able to do 

 so, nevertheless I am told that the agonies of dying animals are 

 faithfully reflected in the case of human victims. 



The bites of a very few gnats do not appear to affect animals seri- 

 ously. Mules raiseS upon the plantation are far less susceptible 

 to the bites of gnats than those imported from more northern lo- 

 calities. It is a commo3i notion among planters that the first gnats 

 to appear are the most destructive, but this can hardly be true, as 

 they may be blown about so as to appear first at different times in 

 different localities. 



When seriously bitten the animal does not always show the effects 

 at once. Teams are often brought in at night, fed and stabled, but 

 found dead in their stalls next morning, and it is often several hours 

 after exposure to gnats before the animal sickens at all. On the 

 other hand, death comes often much more suddenly. The animal 

 will appear to be suddenly attacked with colic, a disease to which 

 mules are very much subject, and die in a few hours. The decep- 

 tion caused by the similarity between the effect of gnats and ordi- 

 nary wind or water colic, is so great that it is often impossible to .de- 

 termine what the trouble really is, and the animal is, in such cases, 

 frequently "doctored" first for one and then the other. The precise 

 effect of the bite is supposed to resemble very much that following 

 the bite of the rattlesnake, and this seems to be the general opinion 

 throughout the infested district. 



REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



From what has been previously stated it will be clearly observed 

 that there is a serious lack of exact information upon two very im- 

 portant points, viz., how to readily distinguish between an attack 

 of colic and the effect of the bites of gnats, when both are to be ex- 

 pected, and the best remedies to apply, in case of the latter, as it' is 

 not only essential that something be done, but that it be promptly 

 done as well. 



As we would naturally expect there are a great many remedies 

 in use, all having more or less advocates, and each with a list of 

 recommendations and cures. None of these, however, have been 

 generally tried thoroughly, and in cases where the result left no 

 doubt as to the virtue of the remedy. The two following receipts 

 seem to have given the best results when used promptly : 



Give liquid ammonia, one-half ounce in half pint of warm lard 

 oil, every two hours until relieved. A teaspoonful of ammonia is 

 often used, when it can not be conveniently measured otherwise. 



