112 
Psyche 
[Sept.-Dee. 
A NOXIOUS SPECIES OF PHLEBOTOMUS IN THE 
OKEFENOKEE SWAMP, GEORGIA 
By O. A. Johannsen 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
A group of biologists from Cornell University, on a collecting 
expedition, visited the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia 
in the summer of 1912, establishing headquarters on Billy’s 
Island. On July first a trip was made to Minnie’s Island in one 
of the remoter parts of the swamp. Here during the night the 
members of the party were tormented by tiny gnats which the 
natives called “Merry Wings” because they were “all wings 
and no body.” The following morning one member of the party 
counted over 75 punctures on his body, another’s hands and 
arms were swollen to abnormal size, the swelling not subsiding 
for a day or more, and a third seemed to develop a slight fever. 
No specimens were obtained that night, but after the party 
had returned to Ithaca some were sent to the department of 
entomology, by a Mr. Lee, a native of the swamp. The flies, 
which proved to be a species of Phlebotomus , bore the label 
“Merye winges,” a retention of Elizabethan spelling that is 
quite in accord with the prevailing language of the region. The 
Lees are such keen observers of natural phenomena and were 
found so dependable in their statements that there can be no 
question as to the specimens sent being the same species that 
proved so troublesome to the party on Minnie’s Island. One 
of the Lees who acted as guide was so hesitant about going to 
the island that he was suspected of some ulterior motive until 
he confessed that he dreaded the “merry wings.” I am indebted 
to three members of the expedition, Professors J. C. Bradley, 
W. D. Funkhouser, and A. H. Wright, for the foregoing state- 
ments. 
Only two or three defective female specimens in alcohol were 
sent to us, and of these only one is now available for study, and 
this lacks vestiture, legs, and part of the antennae. When first 
