242 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



I could not ascertain, but it effectually excluded tlie sun- 

 light. The sound, as they passed, is best described by 

 likening it to a long train of cars passing over a bridge. 



My duties as a naturalist called me to determine if 

 the meadows were unusually free from these pests, after 

 the exodus of so many millions, but 1 could not see that 

 this was the case. By careless exposure of my hands 

 and face on the following evening, I found that there 

 were enough left to render a night in the marsh exceed- 

 ingly painful, if not absolutely dangerous through their 

 attacks. I had also the task before me of determining 

 the fate of the migrants, but this was never accomplished. 

 The wind apparently carried them to the river and dis- 

 persed them over the flourishing county of Bucks, much 

 to the annoyance of many a Pennsylvania farmer. 



While standing by the beech-tree to-day I killed sev- 

 eral " striped - stockings," as they are locally called, a 

 species of Oiolex that out-buzz and out-sting the ordi- 

 nary variety. They are twice as large, and the distinct 

 black and white markings on their legs serve to distin- 

 guish the species. It is rarely the case that mosquitoes 

 are too troublesome to enable one to carry out any plans, 

 however much the hands and face are exposed ; but oc- 

 casionally, when in the low marshes at low tide, there 

 will be a dozen or twenty "striped -stockings" which 

 will make a simultaneous attack, and then prudence sug- 

 gests beating an immediate retreat. 



It has lately been ascertained that mosquitoes destroy 

 young trout : " When the latter came to the surface of 

 the water, so that the tops of their heads were level with 

 the surface of the water ... a mosquito would alight 



