226 THE OESTRUS NASALIS. 



together in large clusters. But in the spring the deer void 

 them by the nostrils, and they fall to the ground, where 

 they are vivified by the warmth of the sun, and as with 

 their forefathers, become the evil genii of the rein-deer.* 



The rein-deer is also cruelly tormented by the mosquito, 

 which is similar in appearance to our midge, or gnat ; for in 

 wooded and low situations, these insects swarm about the 

 poor creatures literally in clouds. To give some idea of their 

 numbers, I may mention, that if when crossing morasses 

 and other places where they more specially abound, I have 

 seated myself for two or three minutes on a tussock, they 

 would settle down in such multitudes on my person, that a 

 single blow with the palm of the hand, must have annihilated 

 a hundred or two. 



The mosquitoes and other insects that fill the air during 

 the summer months in high latitudes, are, in fact, the 

 scourge of man as well as of beast. No one, indeed, who 

 has not traversed the swamps and forests of Lapland or 

 America, can form the most distant conception either of 

 their numbers, or the annoyance to which they subject the 

 wayfarer. 



When in Lapland, I myself suffered exceedingly from the 

 bite of the mosquitoes. Until in a state of fever, and that my 

 face was marked, as if recently recovered from the small-pox, 

 I set those troublesome insects at defiance ; but after a time, 

 following the example of others, I was accustomed to wear a 



* This insect at times also deposits its eggs in the nostrils of people, in 

 consequence of which they, for several days afterwards, not only experience a 

 feeling of nausea and lassitude, but are troubled with Snufva, or catarrh. 

 After the lapse of a few days, however, these ailments cease, probably because 

 the catarrh does not give the larvae time to embed themselves. 



