11 
f 
swarms of them that the ones in the vahguard are pushed toy those in the 
rear into the dope on your face and the latter is entirely wiped off in 
a very few minutes, and the 1000’s of flies not in the vahguard then 
proceed to get/uown to the business of biting a microscopec junk out of 
your face,if you will allow it. We wereportunate in 1923 in not exper- 
iencing xx any days when the balckflies were really ;i abundant, as it xa 
rained much of the time, or ax was too cold for them. Some years ago 
in this same region I estimated the number of black flies on the inside 
of my small tent near the top of Mt. albert, and found the number to be 
more than 150,000. I did this estimating inside my cheese-cloth canopy-— 
the flies A being mostly outside the canopy. 1 will, however, say one 
complimentary thing for the black fly, the moose fly, and the deer fly. 
They go to bed at sundown and are pests only in the daytime. 
Not so v/Jdjh the midge and mosquito: Oh no:- They seemingly are on 
duty about 25 hours each day when the weather is warm and not too windy. 
They observe no union hours and apparently are indifferent as to the 
refined human etiquette of making social calls. I have never found the 
mosquito very troublesome in the Gaspe region, at least not as compared 
with the balck fly and midge. The latter, as most of you doubtless know 
is a t^iny almost microscopic winged insect which under favorable coudtions 
of warmth, sultriness, and undergrowth come in far greater swarms than the 
black flyes. They are also known as minges. The indians call them 
"No see ’urns" in allusion to their small size, and the French Canadians 
call them ?,, brule:rs** in allusion to the intense burning sensation caused 
by their bites. The best protection 1 have found against these tiny 
insects (and ajtl other insects) is a sewed-up chiffon automobile veil 
over a wide brimmed hat for head protection, and gloves for the hands in 
