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spear, I shall, for its peculiarity, pitch upon
one of the smallest, if not the very smallest
of all of the Gnat—kind, which I call Culex
minimus nigricans maculatus sanguisuga.
Among us in Essex they are called Nidiots, by
Mouffet Midges. It is about one tenth of an
inch, or somewhat more long with short
antennae, plain in the female, in the male
feather'd, somewhat like a Bottle-brush. ' It
is spotted with blackish spots especially on
the wings, which extend a little beyond the
body. It comes from a slender Eel like worn,
of a dirty white colour, swimming in stagnating
waters by a wrigling motion.
Its Aurelia (pupa) is small, with a black head,
little short horns, and a spotted, slender
rough belly. It lies quietly on the top of
the water, now and then gently wagging itself
this way and that.
These Gnats are greedy Blood—suckers, and very
troublesome where numerous, as they are in some
places near the Thames, particular in the
Breach waters that have lately befallen near
us, in the Parish of Dagenham; where I found
them so vexatious, that I was glad to get out
of those Marshes. Yea, I have seen horses so
stung with them that they have 'had drops of
blood all over their bodies, where they were
wounded by them."
Exactly two hundred years elapsed before a more
precise description than that of Derham was
published of the larva and pupa of any species
of Culicoides.