100 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



Fly, a small species of dipterous fly, with black body, the 

 legs ringed with black and white (Simulia — ?), whose bite is 

 similar in its effects to that of the musquito, but it does not 

 usually come into our houses. There is also a very minute 

 insect likewise dipterous, with mottled wings, the Sandfly, 

 or Midget, so small as to be scarcely visible : they appear in 

 myriads at nightfall, and bury their heads in the flesh ; their 

 bite is not unlike a spark of fire, but it is not followed by 

 tumours ; a slight inflammation continues for a few minutes, 

 with itching. Neither of these two utters any sound as it 

 approaches, so that their attack is still more insidious than 

 that of the musquito. 



C. — But is there no way of guarding against their as- 

 saults ? are we altogether at their mercy ? 



F, — When they are too bad to be borne any longer, our 

 housewives make what they call a smudge ; that is, little 

 fires to windward of the house, covered with wet chips and 

 earth, which, smothering the flame, make a dense smoke ; this 

 being wafted by the wind around the house, prevents the 

 approach of the flies, as they cannot abide smoke : so we 

 tolerate one inconvenience to dispel a greater. There is no 

 other help, but patience. Salt dissolved in water, rubbed 

 on a recent bite, prevents much of the evil effect. But we 

 know little, after all, of this evil, compared with those bold 

 and hardy men who first penetrated this vast wilderness, 

 and set up their solitary dwellings in the midst of the forest, 

 before roads were cut, or clearings made, or marshes drained ; 

 when clouds of venomous insects rose out of the rank swamps, 

 to which those we encounter are as nothing. I have heard 

 some of the first settlers declare, that they did not dare to go 

 out to work without a pine torch continually blazing on their 

 hats, to keep, by its smoke and flame, a small space around their 

 heads clear of these minute but formidable foes. But enough 

 of them. — There is a tree, if I recollect rightly, somewhere 



