ORDER VII. TWO-WINGED INSECTS, OR FLIES. 317 



at times from the ravages of the mosquitoes. Although 

 they are fortunately not seen every year, these blood-suckers 

 may be considered a real Egyptian plague among the herds 

 of these Cossacks ; for they soon transform the most delight- 

 ful plains into a mournful, solitary desert, killing all the 

 beasts, and completely stripping the fields of every animated 

 creature. One can not look upon the spectacle without 

 pity when he sees the poor cattle exhibiting so much terror 

 at the approach of these innumerable swarms of mosquitoes, 

 whole herds hurrying home for shelter, running as if mad, 

 and often, in their fright, plunging into the river and being 

 drowned. Thousands of these insatiate tormentors enter 

 the nostrils, ears, eyes, and mouth of the cattle, who short- 

 ly after die in convulsions, or from secondary inflammation 

 or from absolute suffocation. In the small town of Elizav 

 bethpol alone, during the month of June, thirty horses, forty 

 foals, seventy oxen, ninety calves, a hundred and fifty hogs y 

 and four hundred sheep, were killed by these flies. 



In temperate climates this kind of mosquito is only ter- 

 rific during several weeks in summer, but in the tropics, al- 

 though they arc not so injurious, they are very troublesome 

 throughout the year ; and in our excursions in the Antilles 

 of America we could never enter the woods without having 

 the head, face, and neck covered with gauze, and the hands 

 with leather gloves, for every leaf of every plant and tree 

 actually swarmed with them. 



As we have already mentioned, there are many species 

 of the mosquito scattered all over the globe, but their ex- 

 ternal and internal condition and characteristics, as well as 

 their habits and manner of living, are about the same. 

 They are provided with a long, horny, stiff, and perpendic- 

 ular proboscis, with antennae consisting of fourteen joints, 

 feathered on the males, and with two wings covered with 

 small scales. Every part of this insect, when magnified, 

 presents not only a beautiful and wonderful appearance, but 



