1913] 
Burr ill, The Giant Midge, Chironomus plumosus. 
131 
As soon as the higher and dryer lake shore terrace or ridge 
was reached by the troopers, hardly a midge was encountered in 
the bright sunlight, and even in a forested section of the lake bank, 
there seemed to be no midges at the level of passing people. In 
this case, possibly, they had sought to rest in the tree tops, as 
clouds of midges were seen there above the groves later in the 
evening. 
Towards dusk, swarms of midges began to appear in ovoid or 
irregular masses often as big as a cabin, flying above our camp¬ 
ground, many getting in our mess plates and cups (cf. Kirby & 
Spence, 1858, 60-1, already quoted), but chiefly forming great 
dancing clouds over the marsh at our rear, over the cornfields next 
in front of the camp grounds, and over the woods already men¬ 
tioned, suggesting brown smoke rising from brush fires at twilight. 
Schuster (1904, 345) says: “The effort of the dancing swarm to 
poise over some prominent object was impressive. As we ap¬ 
proached the nucleus of the swarm zone and became the highest 
point on the hillside, the chief swarm moved towards us and 
danced over our heads so that the column towered directly above 
us so long as we kept still, but by our moving apart, it poised 
between our heads and the lower end of the column occupied a 
space a meter broad.” In comparison my own observations, about 
7 p. m., show that midges tended to hover over the troop camp 
at different points, but the swarms were not stable for long. 
Schuster continues, “If we made quick motions the swarm dashed 
instantly one to two meters higher in the air, but as soon as we be¬ 
came still, they dropped down nearer again.” This ready response 
of the swarm would seem to explain why the midge swarms failed 
to hold stable forms about a hustling camp. 
The smoke-like appearance is heightened by the “wavering 
dancing” (Howard 1908, no) of the swarm. Westwood (1840, 
515) mentions their “immense cloud-like swarms” and the per¬ 
formance of their “aerial dances, composed for the most part of 
males,” and Washburn (1905, 52) suggests “calling them 'Sunset 
Flies’ since they are wont to appear in clouds just before or after 
sunset, preferably in damp places, about water in the woods, and 
elsewhere, though one meets with them in all localities.” Neither 
writer connects the habits with any species as plumosus, nor Kel¬ 
logg ( i 9°8, 310) “dancing time, when they collect in great 
