AUGUST 139 



whereof the larvae are aquatic, propagated in any 

 stagnant water. Gnats or mosquitoes are not usually 

 very aggressive in this country, although one species, 

 Culex pipiens, accounted in India among the most 

 troublesome of the genus, often develops in hot weather 

 very bloodthirsty activity in London and the southern 

 English counties. But it is otherwise with midges, 

 which, as we are painfully aware, are wont to make 

 life a burden by the ; r intolerable system of pin-pricks. 

 The most detestable species of midge has been labelled 

 with a scientific title so grotesquely out of proportion 

 to its microscopic dimensions as to cause profane 

 persons to affirm that entomologists can have no sense 

 of humour. It is known as Ceratopogon varius ; while 

 in England the prevalent species are C. pulicaris and 

 C. bipunctatus. It is no satisfaction to be assured that 

 it is only the female midge that bites. No doubt the 

 only cause that restrains her spouse from doing the 

 like is that which prevents a cherub from sitting down 

 il ria pas de quoil 



I have confessed already in these notes how I was 

 once put to flight by swarms of midges from a pool in 

 a river whence I had already extracted one nice 

 salmon, and was morally certain that I should get 

 another if I had had the pluck to face the torment 

 again ; l but even more formidable than midges are the 

 swarms of sand-flies which lurk in the herbage beside 

 certain rivers in Scotland and Scandinavia. The 

 torment which I suffered from these little devils when 

 fishing the Beauly in August 1920, inspired me with a 

 desire to know something of their life-history, whereof 



1 Menwries of the M&ntht, Sixth Series, p. 166. 



