Short on the Botany of Illinois. 
195 
that annoying pest of these regions—the prairie fly.* In 
these thickets the more common productions are the hazle, 
(Corylus Americana.) three species of sumach, ( Rhus glabrum , 
R. copalinum , and R. aromaticum) several dwarf kinds of 
plumb, ( Prunus ,) of which the species were not ascertained, 
two or three varieties of dogwood, ( Cornus sericea , C. asperi- 
folia , C. alba , several species of undetermined willows, 
( Salix .) Besides these, may be mentioned the Amorpha fruti- 
cosa , Zanthoxylum fraxineum, (prickly ash,) P vinos verticil! at a. 
Ilex prinoides , Aronia melanocarpa , Spircea tomentosa and S. 
salicifolia,Symphorea racemosa,Cephalanthusoccidentalis,Rubus 
* 1 regret that I am not Entomologist enough to give the scientific 
name of this fly. It is, however, but too well known, both by name 
and its effects, to all those who have had the misfortune to pass through 
their haunts during the season of their prevalence, which begins in June, 
and only ends with the recurrence of hard frosts in the fall. I cannot 
do better, in this place, than to extract from the note-book of one of my 
fellow-travelers, his account of this tormenting insect:— 
“At length fairly on the prairie, its ocean-like expanse—its multifloral 
hues, and the strange aspect of everything around us, especially of the 
far-off head-lands of timber, melting into the horizon with ‘the mist of 
blue’ which distance gave them, caused us all for some moments to be 
mute with rapture and admiration; from which delightful trance we were 
soon aroused by observing the woeful condition of our panting and stamp¬ 
ing horses. In fact every part of them not protected by cloths, was cov¬ 
ered by blood-thirsty—blood-sucking flies. These insects, unlike all 
othej-s of their kind I have ever seen, fall upon their prey without buz¬ 
zing, circumvolation, or prelude of any sort: they dart with the rapidity 
of shot from the fowler’s gun, and as soon as they have touched the ani¬ 
mal on which they alight, seem already bedded in his skin, from which 
they are not to be dislodged but by main force and violence. So greedy 
were they, and so intent upon one sole object, that they suffered them¬ 
selves to be pinched off the horses; and so perfect seemed their blood¬ 
sucking apparatus, that hardly had they alighted an instant, when on be¬ 
ing brushed off, they appeared already gorged with their sanguine food. 
Vengeance on our part, and commiseration for our horses, induced us fre¬ 
quently to stop, for the purpose of slaughter; and in a few moments our 
blood-stained hands, and the heaps of slain in the road, gave evidence that 
we spared not, and were as merciless as the foe whom we encountered. 
