86 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



often see it in print and hear it confidently asserted that there are no mosquitoes 

 in England. The usual expression is " We have gnats but no mosquitoes," 

 whilst the fact is, the English Gnat and the American Mosquito cannot be 

 separated genericaliy and probably not even specifically, the two names 

 being but local synonyms for the same insect. But even scientific authorities 

 have assisted in perpetuating the misunderstanding. Newman, in his "Familiar 

 introduction to the history of insects," has a paragraph headed " Mosquitoes or 

 Simulites" in which he refers to a wood-cut of a Simulia, which strongly re- 

 sembles that terrible pest to the early settlers of the country, the " Black Fly," 

 Simulium molestum,wh.iht he gives Gnat as the common name for the genus Culex. 



The settlers of this country adopted the common name Mosquito for Culex 

 pipiens, and used the name Gnat to designate an insect that was more felt 

 than seen. So microscopic was it that the excessive irritation produced by 

 its attack on exposed parts was often the first intimation of its presence ; 

 yet so abundant were they at times that small clouds of them were distinctly 

 visible from their density. They were active only in the evening, or in 

 densely shaded woods. This pest seems to have entirely disappeared with the 

 clearing up of the country. 



Many people call all mosquito-like insects by that name, or, if in Europe, they 

 would call them gnats, and include under these names the families Tipu- 

 lidce and Ephemeridce, which are quite innocent of all biting propensity. So 

 that, when these names are used and alarming reports circulated as to their 

 abundance, it is impossible to be quite sure what insect may be meant. It is 

 recorded that in 1736 gnats were so numerous in England that vast columns 

 of them rose in the air from the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, like smoke, 

 which made the people think it was on fire. Mention is made of a column — 

 pyramidal in form, over a tree, 50 or 60 feet in height (?) — whilst, at a more 

 recent date, another column is mentioned as being seen in a garden 3 feet in 

 diameter and 20 feet high. "We may justly conclude that these columns were 

 not composed of Culex pipiens. And when we are informed that " every part 

 of these columns was in the liveliest motion," we may at once infer that they 

 were composed of some of the Ephemeridce, which Wordsworth alludes to, as 



" The gilded summer flies, 

 That mix and weave their sports together in the solar beam." 

 And when we are told that " their bite was so envenomed that it was attend- 

 ed with violent and alarming inflammation," we may safely say that these 

 bites did not belong to those columns, but to the genus Culex, whose habits 

 are quite different. Who ever saw Culex pipiens in a playful mood ? She is 

 ever intensely absorbed in business ; even her song seems to indicate that her 

 thoughts are bent in that direction ; at least it turns ours very quickly to her 

 business methods. 



Whilst on the subject of these dancing columns, I will give an illustration 

 of their remarkable powers of sustained flight which came under my own 



