The Atlantic Slope Naturalist. 



Vol. 1. 



NARBERTH, PA., NOVEMBER, 1903. 



No. 5 



Insects. 



By Morris Gibbs, M. D., Kalamazoo, Mich. 



" So : naturalists observe a, flea 



Has smaller fleas that on him prey; 

 And these have smaller still to bite 'em. 

 And so proceed ad infinitum." 



These lines have produced a ples- 

 iug feeling with all readers ever since 

 Swift penned them, for there is a 

 spirit of revenge that asserts itself 

 when suffering from the sting of a 

 bug or a flea, and we glory in the 

 thought that all insect pests are sub- 

 ject to annoyance as well as we. And 

 campers, outers, fishers and hunters 

 are particularly critical as to the 

 merits of a locality, for they know 

 that there are drawbacks in all cases 

 where the fishing and hunting is good. 

 A fellow, who was not an entomolo- 

 gist, but was a philosopher, once gave 

 his crude opinion to me in this way : 

 4 'Where the fisiiin'sgood there's bugs, 

 and where there ain't no bugs there 

 ain't no fishinV And as a general 

 thing, he struck it just right. 



Now my exy»erience with bugs, var- 

 mints and sich is extensive, and 

 though I am no bugologist, and don't 

 care about the classification of deer 

 flies, chiggers, etc., I can tell you the 

 truth regarding all these critters of 

 blood sucking tendencies, for "I know 

 their ways and their manners," as 

 Jenny Wren said of the men of her 

 day, and I have learned by sad ex- 

 perience just the extent of the pizen 

 that a critter can instill into the hole 

 which they bore into your hide. But 

 there are all grades to misery, and 

 there are choice positions even in pur- 

 gatory, and it is a fact that there are 

 many species of insects which we 



would rather have bite us than others 

 of a still wickeder kind. To one who 

 has worried through a night without 

 a tent where the mosquitoes are thick 

 the chances are that he will stake his 

 duckets that the old-fashioned hum- 

 ming mosquito is the worst nuisance 

 out; and yet take this same man into 

 a good country for black flies and 

 about the third day, when the back of 

 his ncek begins to swell, and he would 

 be happy to hear a mosquito hum. 



Sand flies of the south also claim a 

 tribute of love from their admirers. 

 The sand fly is one of the smallest 

 pests which make men frantic; but 

 small as they are, they are numerous 

 enough to make amends for their lack 

 of size. Their minuteness is to their 

 advantage, not ours, for they are so 

 small that they are not seen as they 

 go silently to work. The bite is 

 scarcely felt, and an afternoon or 

 evening is passed pleasantly out of 

 doors. Next day, however, the reck- 

 oning is summed up in a serious irri- 

 tation of the skin on the wrists and 

 the sides of the neck, which continues 

 and intensifies for at least forty -eight 

 hours. If the assault continues day 

 after day you will have a beautiful 

 collection of bumps and lumps which 

 you will spend most of your time in 

 alternately soothing and scratching. 



When you scratcli the bites of a sand 

 fly brigade it only augments the swel- 

 ling and irritation, but this knowledge 

 does not prevent you from digging 

 your nails into your skin for momen- 

 tary respite. Fortunately for tourists, 

 and especially campers, the slightest 

 breeze will immediately dispel the 



