MOSQUITOES OF THE NORTHWEST 133 
are too few details to justify a conclusion. The abundance of such mating 
swarms and the numbers of mosquitoes in them is, of course, an indication of 
the abundance of the species as a whole. Such abundance may be normal and 
occur from year to year, as with our northern mosquitoes, or it may be due to 
unusually favorable conditions, such as increased breeding facilities for the 
larvee. 
One of us has elsewhere stated (Howard, “ Mosquitoes”) that Prof. E. W. 
Hilgard, of the University of California, once wrote him that up in northern 
Washington, in the pine forests north of Spokane, a gray mosquito seems to be 
the sole possessor of the land, and is as fearful a nuisance as the mosquitoes in 
arctic regions. “ The first thing on going into camp is to establish a close line of 
smudges above the wind, so as to enable the pack animals and the men to eat in 
comparative peace, but about midnight the entire swarm is back again.” Pro- 
fessor Hilgard further wrote that in Montana he has seen all the work-horses in 
the field sheathed in sheets during the day, to protect them from the swarms of 
mosquitoes, and these were dotted with small blood spots. 
Schwarz at Corpus Christi, Texas, in the late 90’s wrote that at that place, 
“ when the wind blows from any other direction than south, ‘ hundreds of thou- 
sands of millions’ of mosquitoes blow in upon the town. Great herds of horses 
run before the mosquitoes in order to get to the water, but with a change of wind 
the mosquitoes disappear.” Many parts of the North American continent are 
famous for the numbers of the mosquitoes in the neighborhood. Felt has called 
attention to the fact that these insects are so aggressive in some localities as to 
give name to a place. For example, there is a town named “ Mosquito” in! 
Tllinois, a village bearing the same title in Newfoundland, a Mosquito Creek in! 
Indiana, another in Jowa, and still another in Ohio, while the whole eastern 
coast of Central America is known as the Mosquito Coast. Riley is quoted as 
stating that the bravest man on the fleetest horse dares not cross some of the 
more rank and dark prairies of Minnesota in June. 
Captain Butler in “The Great Lone Land” gives a vivid description of the 
abundance of mosquitoes on the northwestern prairies in the early days. 
“ As soon as the sun had dipped beneath the sea of verdure, an ominous sound 
caused me to gallop on with increasing haste. The pony seemed to know the 
significance of that sound much better than its rider. He no longer lagged, nor 
needed the spur or whip to urge him to faster exertion, for darker and denser 
than on the previous night there rose around us vast numbers of mosquitoes,— 
choking masses of biting insects, no mere cloud thicker and denser in one place 
than another, but one huge wall of never-ending insects, filling nostrils, ears, 
and eyes. Where they came from I cannot tell: the prairie seemed too small to 
hold them; the air too limited to yield them space. I have seen many vast 
accumulations of insect-life in lands old and new, but never anything that 
approached to this mountain of mosquitoes on the prairies of Dakota. To say 
that they covered the coat of the horse that I rode, would be to give but a faint 
idea of their numbers: they were literally six or eight deep upon his skin, and 
with a single sweep of the hand one could crush myriads from his neck. Their 
hum seemed to be in all things around. To ride for it was the sole resource. 
Darkness came quickly down, but the track knew no turn, and for seven miles I 
kept the pony at a gallop; my face, neck, and hands, cut and bleeding. 
