DIPTERA. — S32 
overwhelming numbers until 1872, 1873, 1874, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1885, and 1886. In 
1872 it was reported that the loss of mules and horses in Crittenden County, Ark., 
exceeded the loss from all diseases. In 1875 they caused serious injury in many par- 
ishes of Leuisiana. In 1874 the loss occasioned in one county in southwest Tennes- 
see was estimated at $500,000. The gnats have been especially injurious since the 
Mississippi floods of 1881 and 1882; in the latter year they were more destructive to 
stock than ever before, appearing in immense numbers in eastern Kansas, western 
Tennessee, and western Mississippi, and the great destruction of cattle, horses, and 
mules caused by them added greatly to the distress of the inhabitants of those sec- 
tions of the country caused by unprecedented floods. Many localities along the 
Mississippi River in Arkansas also suffered severely. In 1884 buffalo-gnats appeared 
again in great numbers and were fully as destructive as in 1882. In Franklin Parish, 
La., within a week from their first appearance, they had caused the death of 300 
head of stock. They were equally numerous throughout the whole region infested, 
and for the first time in the history of the pest they attacked horses and mules on 
the streets of the cities of Vicksburg and Memphis. No genera] outbreak took 
place in 1885, yet gnats appeared in sufficient numbers to kill quite a number of 
mules in various parishes of Louisiana, especially in Tensas and Franklin. Buffalo- 
gnats appeared again in immense numbers in 1886, and extended throughout the 
entire lower Mississippi Valley, and swarms were even observed and doing damage 
far away from the region usually invaded. They came very late in the season, and 
consequently animals were in better condition to withstand tneir attacks. The 
damage was great, however, in many localities where planters had not taken steps 
to protect their stock. 
Besides the actual loss by death of their stock, planters lose much valuable time 
in preparing their fields for the crops. It so happens that the gnats appear at a time 
in which the ground becomes fit to be prepared for cotton, and as it is very impor- 
tant to give that plant as much time as possible to mature, every day is very valuable 
in early spring. Planters owning large estates have to use their mules for plowing, 
notwithstanding the gnats, while farmers on a small scale can keep their animals in 
the stable, thus protecting them. (Report United States Department of Agricul- 
ture, 1886, p. 502.) 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
The eggs have been discovered for but comparatively few species. 
Dr. W.S. Barnard describes and figures those of a species found at 
Ithaca, N. Y. (American Entomologist, Vol. 111, pp. eee: 
These eggs (fig. 3) were found on 
the rocks on the banks a few inches 
above the surface of the water, and 
we give herewith a description of 
them as a means of facilitating the 
finding of those of other species. 
The eggs are deposited in a com- 
pact layer. Their shape is long 
ovoid, buton account of their soft- 
ness and close proximity to each 
other they become distorted and 
polyhedral. One end is frequently 
flattened or concave. Each egg 
measures 0.40 by 0.18 mm. In 
Hungary the eggs of the Columbacz 
midge (S. columbatczense Schin- Fie. 3.—Eggs of Sin alium—much enlarged (after Bar- 
bauer) have also been studied by nard). 
Edward Tomosvary, and the observations have been published since his death by 
4653—No. 5——3 
