276 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



Fig. 117. The buffalo-gnat 

 pecuarum, after Garman). 



(Simulium 



and filled with water by 

 the rains, often furnish 

 the chief supplies of mos- 

 quitos to a whole neighbor- 

 hood. Few are reared in 

 open water inhabited by- 

 fishes; for the fishes eat 

 them. The smaller the pool, 

 the more likely it is to 

 contain mosquito larvae. 

 The larvae take air at the 

 surface of the water, but 

 swim down below to find 

 forage or to escape danger. 

 Many species are adapted 

 to the drying up of their 

 native pools, and live on (usually in the egg stage) in 

 absence of water, and come on again and fly and sing and 

 bite at their proper seasons. Some are short-lived, and run 

 through quite a number of generations in a single summer; 

 these develop in vast numbers when a rainy season main- 

 tains an abundance of little pools. 



Black-flies (Family Simuliidae) develop in nuining water, 

 and are most troublesome about woodland streams. The 

 habits of the larvae, which live 

 upon stones, have been discussed 

 on pages 36 and 37. When there 

 are no stones in the streams, larvae 

 may be found hanging to sticks 

 and to grass blades that trail in 

 the edge of the current. The eggs 

 are laid on logs and stones at the 

 water's edge. The adults (fig. 117) 

 love the sunshine, and their biting * 



is troublesome only by day. ' Fl £. i 18 Burea A u $■£&££?. the 



