1913] 
Burr ill. The Giant Midge, Chironowus plumosus. 
139 
(Von Grimm, 1870, 1871). Balbiani (1882 and 1885, 243) worked 
four years on the embryology of a similar unidentified species, 
especially to trace the sexual organs. Jaworowski has worked out 
the development of the heart for near species (1880), as has Ritter 
(1890) for the reproductive system and intestines. 
An examination of the droppings as found upon the shelter 
halves of our tents at 5 a. m., August 17, showed them to be of 
a dark green color. These green specks occurred on drinking 
cups, saddle equipment, in fact everything including the men’s 
foreheads. The specks were larger than those of the common 
house fly, and were easily washed off from skin or metal, but in 
the dewy morning ran the green, like green paint stains, down our 
canvas and khaki, so that from then on the cloth part of the equip¬ 
ment looked quite “travel stained.” With the excessive green algal 
formation in the lake where these midges arose, it is a question 
if the midges had fed in the prepupal stage on these algae and 
retained green in the rectum as adults? Two authors mention this 
greenish fluid filling the stomach of both the pupa and adult (Miall 
& Hammond, 1900, 107; quoted by Johannsen, 1905, 78), placing 
in juxtaposition the observations, “The larvae of Chironomus feed 
on dead leaves and other vegetable refuse. Microscopic examina¬ 
tion of the stomach reveals a blackish mass of vegetable fragments, 
besides Diatoms, Infusoria, eggs of other aquatic animals and 
grains of sand.” Still earlier Osborn wrote (1896a, 406), “the 
food is for the most part apparently minute aquatic organisms, 
at gw, etc., (the italics are mine). That the food does color the 
intestinal mass is averred by Packard (1871a, 43) for C. oceanicus 
which feeds “upon the fine sea-weeds, such as the green fila¬ 
mentous species.Its food, then, mainly seems to consist of 
sea-weeds, the red kinds coloring the intestine and faeces brown, 
but it also probably consists in part of animal matter.” As he did 
not note an individual eating wholly green algae, it is not surpris¬ 
ing that he fails to mention any green faeces in that species. In 
Opposition to these statements of algivorous food stands Garman’s 
(1896, really 1890, 158) that plant tissue is undiscoverable other 
than bacteria in fluviatile Chironomids. It is probable that this 
general statement refers in a very limited way to the particular 
species C. plumosus (ib., 160), but Garman also notes the colored 
