126 
Bulletin Wisconsin Natural History Society. [Vol. 10, Nos. 3-4. 
water lakes, they are found in salt lakes 5 and even twenty fathoms 
deep in the Atlantic ocean, 6 so that .they form a widespread supply 
of fish food, that is, if the fishes of these different' habitats shall 
be proved to eat them. For the fresh water lakes we can state 
with certainty that (Needham, 1903, 209) a “constant succession 
of generations through the year, leaving no period of absence of 
the larvse from the water constitute the claim of these larvae to 
economic importance,” a paraphrase on Garman (1896, 155-6, 
159) who adds, “Some species, at least, are found in water when 
cold weather comes in the fall, and doubtless remain in the larval 
condition till the next season—even under the ice in winter.” 
The genus Ceratopogon, which includes the gnats called 
“punkies” and, occasionally, “sand flies,” has also a growing liter¬ 
ature on annoyance to man and beast. Hardly a word has> been 
said, however, about the annoyance which midges of the genus 
Chironomus may cause to man or beast, especially at the height 
of the midge season. In fact, some authors state that besides fish 
food “the family has no other economic importance” (Howard, 
1908, no) and (Smith, 1900, 626) “as a rule they are harmless, 
except for the annoyance caused by the biting tribes, but the larvae 
of one species at least mines the leaves of water-plants and thus 
becomes injurious in a very limited and special way.” Appar¬ 
ently most of the writers have not considered that the very 
numbers of these creatures may become annoying or obnoxious 
on occasion. Osborn (1896a, 405-7, quotted in Osborn 1896b, 30) 
does speak of a “species which has been present in great numbers 
in the water mains of Boone, Iowa, and which occurs in water 
tank's and reservoirs” and notes a letter, July 1895, from the 
Chairman of the Water Commission relating how it came there, 
through failure of the city artesian pumps, necessitating pumping 
through hose from a 45' vein into a large cement-lined reservoir, 
containing immense numbers of larvae. The latter “were drained 
into the mains at times when the reservoir was low, doubtless due 
to the formation of strong currents over the bottom. Specimens 
have also been received from Des Moines,” la. Osborn considers 
that their quondam use in clearing water of organic matter in 
5) Washburn 1905, 53, as the Great Salt Lake, Packard 1871a, 41. 
6) Packard 1870, 230; 1871a, 41; 1871b, 133; 1871c, 100 stating catch 
at Eastport, Me.; and quoted by Howard 1908, 110 ; and Wash¬ 
burn 1905, 41. 
