KENTUCKY
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION

OFTHE

STATE UNIVERSITY.

BULLETIN/NO. 159.

A Preliminary Study of Kentucky Localities in
which Pellagra is Prevalent, having Refer-
ence to the Condition of the Corn Crop and to
the Possible Presence of an Insect or other
Agent by which the Disease Spreads.

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY,

January 15, 1912.

(1)

Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station.

BOARD OF CONTROL.

RICHARD C. STOLL, Chairman, Lexington, Ky.
CHARLES B. NICHULS, Lexinyton, ky.
LEWIS L. WALKER, Lancaster, Ky. :
HENRY S. BARKER, President of the University.
MELVILLE A.SCOVELL, Director, Secretary.
OFFICERS.
3 (In order of appointment).

M. A.SCOVELL, Director and Chemist.
A.M PETER, Chief Chemist, Head of Chemical Division.
H. E. CURTIS, Chief Chemist. Head of Fertilizer Division.
H. GARMAN, Entomologist and Botanist, Head of Division.
R. Ms ALLEN. Head of Food and Drug Division.
J. D. TURNER, Head of Feed Division.
J. O. LABACH, Chief Chemist, Food and Drug Division,

JISS M. L. DIDLAKE, Assistant Entomologist and Botanist.
S.D. AVERITT, Chemist, Chemical Division.
O. M. SHEDD, Chemist, Chemical Division.
MISS LILLIE LISTON, Chief Clerk, Food and Drug Division.
E C. VAUGHN, Assistant Entomologist and Botanist.
GEORGE RUBERTs, Agronomist. Head of Division of Agronomy.
E. S. GOOD, Head of Anima! Husbandry Division.
J. W. NUTTER, Assistant in Dairying, Animal Husbandry Division.
MISS O. L. GINOCHIO, Secretary to the Director.
H. D. SPEARS, Chemist, Feed Division.
MISS ANNA WALLIS, Stenographer.

_W. McFARLIN, Inspector, Food and Drug Division.

. KINNEY, Assistant Agronomist.
WILLIAM C. MATTHEWS, Artist, Division of Entomology and Botany.
T. Rk. BRYANT, Extension Work.
L. A. BROWN, Drug Chemist, Food and Drug Division.

OHN I. CLAYBROOKE., Inspector.

V. Rk. PINNELL, Inspector, Food and Drug Division.
C.S. PORTER, Drug Inspector, Food and Drug Division.
B. D. WILSON. Assistant Chemist, Fertilizer Division.
D. J. HEALY, Bacteriologist and Microscopist, Food and Drug Division.
A. E. EWAN, Assistant to the Agronomist.
MISS MAY G. GINOCHIO, Clerk, Food and Drug Division,
WILLIAM RODES, Assistant Chemist, Fertilizer Division.
MISS LILLA J: PHELPs, stenographer.
ROBERT GRAHAM, Veterinary science, Animal Husbandry Division.
F. M. SURFACE, Biologist, Animal Husbandry Division.
L.S. CORBETT, Assistant in Animal Husbandry.
H. H. JEWETT, Assistant in Research Entomology.
H. R. NISWONGER, Assistant in Nursery Inspection, Division of Entomology
7 and Botany.

ISS F. C. ROGERS. Stenographer.
JOSEPH H. KASTLE., Research Chemist, Head of Division of Chemical Research.
B. F. SCHERFFIUs, Expert, U.S. Department Agriculture.

NOTICE :
The Bulletins of the Station will be mailed free to any citizen of Kentucky who
sends his name and address to the Station for that purpose.
Correspondents will please notify the Director of changes in their postoffice
address, or of any failure to receive Bulletins.

Address:
KENTUCKY AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY.

(2)

BULLETIN/ NO. 159.

A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF KENTUCKY LO-
CALITIES. IN WHICH PELLAGRA
IS PREVALENT.: eta eR

U.S. National Museum,
ton, D. Ce

By H. GARMAN, ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST OF THE STATION.

The suggestion somewhat recently made by European
investigators that pellagra is in Italy and other European
countries conveyed by a small fly belonging to the genus
Simulium has aroused a good deal of interest on the part. of
the American medical practioner, and the question has been
raised as to whether or not the insect species charged with
the mischief occurs in this country, and if not whether we
may have as intermediate host some related species of the
genus. None of the species found by Dr. Sambon in regions
in Italy in which the disease is prevalent occurs in the
United States. Simuliwm reptans, said to have been accused
more positively than others, does occur, however, in Green-
land, and may possibly yet be discovered in the northern
portion of the continent.

The disease is now prevalent in sections of the southern
states, and within the past two years has attracted attention
in some of the mountain counties of Kentucky, from which
counties a number of cases have been sent to the Eastern
Kentucky Asylum for the Insane at Lexington. The recog-
nition of these cases in the Asylum has perhaps more than
anything else served to concentrate attention on the dis-
ease as a danger in the State, and led to a conference of our

*The writer has not at any time ccmmitted himself to the ‘tInsect theory” of the spread
of pellagra. Weis not satished with the evidence, and intends in this bulletin simply to
present facts which may bear upon the problem.

4 Bulletin No. 159

medical men who met at Corbin some time ago with a view
to considering the matter and if possible devising means of
checking the further spread of the ailment.

At this meeting it was requested that the writer of this
bulletin visit the region in which pellagra is prevalent and
determine if any fly occurs there that might serve to convey
the disease.

In response to this request I spent several days at Ccrbin
in the latter part of August and in early September, and
again in Octoberat Pineville, studying the localities in which
pellagrous cases are located, and giving special attention to
the streams in the region as breeding places of the flies.

‘It may be explained at this point that I was aware that
Fall is not the most favorable season to look for the flies.
The late Dr. Riley, who studied the buffalo and turkey
gnats (Simuliwm pecuarum and S. meridionale) some years
ago, declared indeed thatthe species were one-brooded. It
was known to me, however, that some of our species pro-
duce more than one annual brood, and in any case it seemed
best to study the locality and familiarize myself with the dis-
ease in order that I might not lose time in the Spring when
the flies of the genus generally appear in great numbers.

Two species of the flies were known to me to occur in
Kentucky at this time. The buffalo gnat (S. pecuarwm)
was years ago very abundant periodically in April and May
along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in Western Kentucky.
This gnat still occurs locally some seasons in that part of
Kentucky, attacking stock and sometimes, it is claimed, in-
vading the nostrils of men, causing sneezing, but no other
annoyance. The larve of a second species (S. pictipes)
were collected by me in 1893 in large numbers in small rills
running into Kentucky River about 14 miles from Lexington.
This gnat is said not to sting and hence may be eliminated
from the problem. I have also a few specimens of Simulium
larvee, not yet studied, collected at Lexington in a small
stream, August 5. 1889.

At Corbin I inspected the surroundings of cases in
charge of Drs. M. W. Steele and J. H. Parker. The weath-

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 5

er was very unfavorable for my work, rain keeping the water
of streams roiled and making a search for insects in them
difficult. The cases of pellagra were located, as I had been
led to expect, near streams, some of them only a few hundred
feet away from the water, though as a matter of fact most
of those living in the country in these mountain counties are
near springs and streams for obvious reasons. When ques-
tioned it was found in some instances that the patients had
not contracted the ailment where they were then living.
One had not had good health where she formerly resided and
had moved “‘up here’’ where she thought her condition was
- improved. In several cases observed the disease had in all
probability been contracted where the patients then lived.
This seemed true of three individuals, a mother and two
boys, living on the banks of Laurel River north of Corbin.
The mother had been very severely affected early last spring
about garden making time at which time she was confined to
her bed. Her face, hands and feet still showed the effect of
the disease, though she was about the house when I saw her.
One of the boys was affected on the calves of the legs quite
extensively, the dusky cuticle being visible as he walked
beside the buggy. The second boy showed only asmall area
on one of his legs, and was said to have contracted the ailment
‘a week or so later than the others. Allseemed to have become
affected in the spring of 1911 at the place where they were
seen. Excepting for the diseased skin neither boy seemed
to be in bad health. None of them showed signs of mental
derangement. The house in which the family lived was a
mere shed that had been abandoned by sawmill men on the
bank of Laurel River. The water of the river where near-
est the house was at a much lower level, having cut its bed
so as to leave rather steep banks, but is only a few hundred
feet away. Several hundred yards below the dwelling is a
ford where the stream is more rapid and shallow, running
over and among large rocks consisting of a red sandstone
which blackens on exposure to the weather and gives the
river a rather forbidding appearance. I was able to cross
here on the rocks, and spent some minutes looking for in-

6 Bulletin No. 159

sects among them. The situation is an excellent one for
Simulium, but the weather was threatening and dark and
with the limited time at my disposal I was compelled to
give up the search without finding larve, though I secured
a number of other insects from among the rocks. Iam
confident that Simulium larvze can be found here in the
spring of the year.

At Pineville I searched the rapids of Cumberland River
with care, and explored Clear Creek between the Pine and
Log Mountains, giving special attention to the creek because
a case of pellagra, in charge of Doctor Foley, of Pineville,
was located on its banks. The dwelling in which this
patient lives is on the banks of the creek in much the same
position relative to the water as the one on Laurel River at
Corbin, yet from what I learned by conversation with the
patient it was probable that she had contracted the ailment
at another place, though similarly situated with reference
to the stream. The stream was inspected at intervals above
this dwelling and below it down to its junction with the
Cumberland. Numerous insects were found in it, and sit-
uations exactly suited to the breeding of Simulium, yet
none were found.

In the Cumberland River as it flows through the Gap of
the Pine Mountains I spent some hours on two days and
found a few Simulium larve in its rapids among a scant
growth of Nitella, with many other insects characteristic of
swift-flowing, rocky streams.

At Cary, three miles north of Pineville, is a mining camp
on the left Fork of Straight Creek. In company with Doctor
J. H. Hendren of Cary I visited here some of the most
interesting cases seen on my trip. At the outskirts of the
settlement, perhaps one hundred and fifty feet from the
stream, is a dwelling in which were four cases of pellagra,
which, judging from Dr. Hendren’s statements, had origin-
ated at this place. The stream was shallow at the time of
my first visit (September 1) and consisted of stretches of
quiet water a few feet in depth, in which some fishing with

hook and line was going on, alternating with rocky rapids

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. vi

in which the water was not much over one’s shoe-tops and
where it was possible to cross by stepping from rock to rock.
One of these rapids just below the dwelling seemed to me
an ideal place for Simulium larve, and a few minutes search
here brought to light some larvze and pupze. They were not
very common, however, and were so small that I felt some
hesitation about committing myself until they could be more
carefully examined. Examination, and in some cases dis-
section, made since my return to the University, leaves no
doubt as to their identity.

On October 21, during a second visit to the region about
Pineville, I examined the Left Fork of Straight Creek well
up toward its source. Above the Coleman mining camp
were found larvee and pupe of ‘the same Simulium collected
on my previous trip. They were scattered and difficult to
find, and although not nearly so common as I have seen simi-
lar larvee in the spring of the year at other places, yet
judging by the frequency with which I found a few here
and there many of them must be now hibernating in the
ereek. Most of the pupa cases were empty. Other speci-
mens were secured from rocks in the rapids of Cumberland
River at the point above Pineville where specimens were
secured in August and September. Numerous other insects
were found among the submerged rocks in Straight Creek,
Cumberland River and Clear Creek. Some account of them
is included in what follows, not because of any definitely
determined relation to the main object of my search, but
because some of them may later prove to have relations with
this and certainly have with other subjects of interest to the
people of the State. For it is to be remembered that it is
not certain that gnats of the genus Simulium have to do with
pellagra. It is possible that some other insect or animal is
concerned in its spread.

Looking at the matter from the point of view of the en-
tomologist and naturalist it seemed to me very evident when
I had examined only a few cases of pellagra that some agent
in the air had to do with its spread, and it may be of in-
terest to recall the facts that most appealed tome. In the

8 Bulletin No. 159

first place the eruption on the hands began apparently
about the bases of the fingers and extended thence upward
to the elbows, where it stopped abruptly. On the legs it
seemed to begin at the feet, affecting the upper surface and
extending to the knees, where it terminated in a well
marked line. On the head and neck it affected in all cases
examined only the skin constantly exposed, and terminated
at the hair and at the collar. Yet in some instances re-
recorded there is an extension of the affected skin down
upon the chest, coinciding somewhat closely with the open-
ing in the shirt front. One such case, which I did not
have a chance to see, was reported to me as residing at
Old Straight Creek, above Pineville. All of these conditions
seemed consistent with Dr. Sambon’s theory that an insect
carries the virus of the disease from ill to well, attacking
the exposed skin and injecting into it something, bacteria
or protozoa, which gives rise to the disease.

Furthermore the disease is contracted and afterward
becomes active in early spring at just the time when our
gnats of the genus Simulium come from the water in greatest
numbers as adults.

Again it often affects children, who constantly go bare-
footed and bare-legged in this region and are disposed to
play and wade in the streams. Women, too, were affected
more than men, about the arms and neck generally, but also
in some cases on the feet and calves. Men go less fre-
quently perhaps with the limbs bare, and are much less
often attacked. The skin trouble appears upon the trunk
rather rarely, though cases are on record of parts generally
kept covered by clothing becoming affected.

With these facts in mind, it was with very great in-
terest that I examined a case at Moss’s Camp above Pine-
ville which seemed to oppose the idea of insect agency in
the disease. The case was that of a middle aged woman
whose arms showed in a marked manner the symmetrical
development of the skin lesions, so often mentioned by
writers on the ailment. It was interesting further because
it was then (Sept. 1) in an active condition, whereas all the

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 9

other cases examined showed the usual summer cessation of
the disease and an improvement in general health. The
affected regions on the two arms were surrounded by a deep
red border, as if something had got access to the blood in
the center of the area and was spreading outward into the
healthy skin, much as one sees in plants a fungus pushing
outward from a point of inoculation by a growth of its
mycelium. The area on the two arms and forearms seemed
to be of about equal extent. This affected region was such
as might at some time have keen exposed to the air when
the patient was busy about ler domestic affairs. A more
interesting and puzzling feature of this case was the presence
of two isolated round spots of diseased skin, one on the
point of each shoulder. If there had been one only, I should
have thought a hole in a gown might at some time have
exposed the part to infection, but the chances seem against
the presence of two such holes exactly alike, one on each
shoulder. I am giving this fact as an illustration of what
some physicians claim to be an invariable feature of the
ailment, no matter where the skin trouble appears, namely,
a symmetry in the skin affection, which they regard as
evidence that the seat of the disease is within and the skin
lesions only incidental and dependent. The case appears
to support this view, yet it may prove when we know more
of the conditions attending the contraction of the disease
that such cases are still explainable on the theory of insect
agency.

THE STREAMS.

In general character the streams examined are much
alike. A gap in the Pine Mountain range lets the Cumber-
land through from the south. It makes a bend after clear-
ing the gap, and partially encircling Pineville, located at the
base of the mountain, flows off to the westward. In its
course it receives numerous small creeks and rills from
springs, and farther west and north is joined by Laurel
River. Its water was rather warm at the time of my first
visit, and did not seem to me particularly well suited to the

10 Bulletin No. 159

requirements of Simulium larve, judging by what I had
seen of them at other times and in other places. The
numerous springs, however, send into it a good deal of cool
and rather pure water at all times, and no doubt in the
spring of the year its quality is much better because of the
larger quantities present and the consequent dilution and
rapid carrying away of sewage. The bed of the stream was
cut in places through a conglomerate and red sandstone,
and large fragments of this rock cumbered the channel
and produced rapids. In the creeks the same conditions
prevailed on a smaller scale. My photographs will convey
a fuller idea of their character. (See Figures 59 to 683;
inclusive.) The banks of the streams support a growth
more or less thick, of willow and other deciduous trees. On
the slopes, trees, though small, become more numerous and
occur in greater variety. Where the valleys widen out are
tracts of bottom land, generally planted in corn, which is
the most important agricultural crop of the valleys.

The region is one of great natural beauty and attractive-
ness. The wooded slopes of mountains rise abruptly from
the valleys and river beds, presenting constantly changing
effects in light from both sun and moon, effects often en-
hanced by floating wisps of cloud about the peaks and
slopes. The landscape of other parts of Kentucky may be
in its own fashion as beautiful as this, but as a type of
beauty the Cumberland mountain region stands unique in
the State.

It is unfortunate that a section calculated naturally to
be so healthful and attractive, should be permitted to
become a center for the spread of so dangerous a disease as
pellagra. The State Board of Health has shown commenda-
ble forethought and enterprise in taking hold of the matter
at once, and making an effort to arrest its further spread.

Yet it should be known by the people of Kentucky that
pellagra is no longer restricted to the mountain counties;
Through the kindness of Dr. F. H. Clarke of Lexington and
the authorities of the Eastern Kentucky Asylum for the
Insane, I have been able to learn the distribution of the

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 11

cases that have been sent to the Asylum. To my surprise
they have been found to come from widely scattered counties
of Eastern Kentucky, extending from the mountains to the
Ohio River. Judged by the distribution of these cases there
is no county in the Eastern third of the State that can be
regarded as exempt. And considering other cases occurring
in other parts of Kentucky, together with those recorded
from Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan and other states, it ap-
pears that pellagra may occur anywhere within our borders.

Yet it must be remembered that the history of these
eases at asylums is not fully known. People attacked by a
lingering malady sometimes become restive and dissatisfied
because of their ill health, and move away from the locality
where the disease was contracted. The cases scattered
about Kentucky may thus in some instances have come
originally from the mountains. I sometimes found on ques-
tioning patients about Corbin and Pineville that they had
somewhat recently changed their residences.

Once introduced into a locality, however, the disease
appears to spread, as if some agent of infection were every-
where at hand. In some asylums, numbers of cases are
said to have developed after the admission of a single one.
And it may be remarked in passing that the fact, if fact it
is, that cases may originate within the walls of an asylum
is opposed to the theory that Simulium is the agent of trans-
mission, for these insects are pre-eminently creatures of the
wild wood.

THE INSECTS FOUND IN THE STREAMS.

Most of the aquatic species collected in situations ex-
amined for Simulium were such as are constructed for living
in swift currents. They are in some cases quick strong
swimmers, but more often are of the lurking sorts that
depend upon clinging tightly to rocks and other objects in
the water. Species belonging to eight different orders were
collected by me, representing over forty species.

12 Bulletin No. 159

SIMULIDZE (SAND FLIES).

The members of this family are rather small stout-
bodied, two-winged flies, as young, living in the water of
rapid streams. Twenty-seven species of the genus Simulium
are listed from North America, of which three are known
to me to occur in Kentucky. To the accounts of these
species have been added below description of the turkey
gnat, which will probably be found here, and of the
European S. reptans.

Simulium venustum (The Black Fly).

This is the species of which I collected larvee and pupz
at Cary, Coleman, and elsewhere in the left Fork of Straight
Creek. It is known as a pest in northern woods, especially in
the Adirondacks, but has a wide distribution in this country,
extending from Canada and Minnesota southward to Texas,
Mississippi and Florida. The original description of the
species written by Say, a pioneer entomologist, of New
Harmony, Indiana, was based upon speciméns collected at
Shippingsport on the Ohio River in 1823. He describes the
adult fly as black, with two pearly spots on the front of the
thorax and a larger one behind, the poisers black; the wings
whitish with yellow and iridescent reflections; and says of
it: “‘This pretty species perched in considerable numbers
on our boat at Shippingsport, Falls of the Ohio. It ran with
considerable rapidity, constantly advancing its long anterior
feet. Its bite is pungent.’’

Harris, writing of the same insect in 1852, says ‘‘Travel-
ers and new settlers in some parts of New England are
very much molested by a small gnat, called the black fly,
swarms of which fill the air during the month of June.
Every bite that they make draws blood and is followed by
an inflammation and swelling which lasts several days. These
little tormentors are of a black color; their wings are trans-
parent; their legs are stout, and have a broad whitish ring
around them. The length of their body rarely extends one-
tenth of aninch. They begin to appear in May, and con-
tinue about six weeks, after which they are no more seen.’’

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 1S

The insect has doubtless become less common than it
was formerly, yet my brief stay in the mauntains was
sufficient to show that it is still there and probably more
abundant than is commonly supposed. My own material
is all immature, yet the characters of the pupz and larve
are such as to leave little doubt as to the correctness of their
identification. The following detailed descriptions are based
upon the material collected at Cary and Pinevil’e, and
together with the illustrations made by Mr. Matthews of
the Division will serve for the recognition of the insects,
should any one wish to search for them in the streams.

SE,

eT ee TU
Satie twas 2

a
“Se 7
re say
4 ;

BS

Sees
3 as

Fic. 1—Larva of Simulium venustum from the Left
Ferk of Straight Creek, Ky., 1911.

Larva.—Rather thick bodied, more slender at the mid-
dle, becoming greatly thickened at the posterior extremity,
and enlarging somewhat behind the head. Head relatively
large, brownish, bearing two large brushes of long curved
bristles. A false leg, bearing rust-brown chitinous hooks at
the tip, arises from the first body division and projects for-
ward beneath the head. Posterior extremity with a ring of
dusky microscopic hooks by which the insect secures itself
to rocks and other objects. Translucent white, with black-
ish markings, in the larger examples sometimes assuming
the form of cross bands. Length of largest example se-
cured, 4 millimeters or about 0.16 inch; diameter of swollen
posterior region about 0.6 mm. Collected, first, September
1, 1911, ina rapid of the Left Fork of Straight Creek, a few
hundred feet from a dwelling in which were four cases of
pellagra. Later, collected in Cumberland River, near Pine-
ville, and at different points in Straight Creek.

Head large, its depth three-fourths its length. The fans

14 Bulletin No. 159

of curved bristles conspicuous, consisting of a stout basal
stalk at each side of the head, bearing about 36 bristles,
these flattened, strong, curved, expanded at their bases, the
inner edges with short, rigid, straight, obliquely-placed, or
erect sete, excepting a small portion of the tip of each.
Very minute soft hairs fringe the margin also, between the
rigid sete, and these soft hairs are present at the tips as
well as elsewhere. Antenne very slender and incon-
spicuous, erect, consisting of a long basal piece, then a
short, very slender one, ending with a very slender short
distal segment. Lower lip (labium) black along the anterior
border; side margin a trifle excavated anteriorly, then sud-
denly arching outward, with four appressed marginal teeth
at the beginning of the arched portion. Anterior median
edge a little excavated, with, at each side, an outer rather
prominent acute tooth, a median tooth of about the same
size and character, and between the median and each outer
tooth three small teeth, making nine in all. Nearly parallel
with the lateral margin of each side are three hairs with
divided tips, the most anterior being opposite the appressed
teeth of the margin. Mandible of the usual structure in the
genus, consisting of acentral elongate piece, arched without,
and bearing at the tip three rather strong acute black teeth,
the median of which is smallest; proximal to these teeth is a
series of three acute straight teeth successively shorter from
the outermost; then succeeds a series of six close-placed,
long, spine-like teeth, with two stouter ones completing the
series within. Two stout teeth, looking as if cut out of the
margin complete the armament, and are placed proximal to
all the others. The usual brushes of hairs arise from the
inner edge of the basal half of the mandible. The maxilla
consists of a stout broad basal piece from which arises a’
cylindrical segment tapering a little to the tip but blunt and
bearing at the extremity several short teeth. An inner lobe
about as broad as long bears on its side a tuft of hairs
extending beyond the tip; a triangular basal piece bears
several setz along its anterior edge and at its apex is one
conspicuous pectinate spine. On each side of the head are

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. Hi}

two black specks, the posterior the larger and reniform, the
anterior elongate and nearly straight.

From the first body segment following the head, on its
ventral side, arises a jointed leg extending forward and
turning upward beneath the head. Its extremity is armed
with rust-brown chitinous hooks by which it is enabled to
cling, the structure being an organ of locomotion. At the
posterior extremity of the bedy is a circle of microscopic
hooks for clinging, this larva like others attaching itself to
a web which it spins on the surface of rocks, and then
standing erect swaying about in the current. The external
respiratory organs consist of three tufts of soft white finger-
like processes thrust out above the posterior extremity of
the body, each lateral tuft consisting of four processes and
the median of about the same number. These structures
are retractile and are not visible on most of the specimens
collected.

The colors of the larvze secured vary somewhat with age
and size, the very young being largely white, older ones
showing evident bands of black on the middle body seg-
ments. An example before me shows a black dot posterior
to the base of each fan-like brush of the head, while several
close-placed brown points are visible from above near the
posterior lateral margin, and a group of about six median
ones appears between them. Sutures of the head and pos-
terior margin black. Foot white, excepting the roughened
tip, which is rust-brown. Swollen posterior part of body
white beneath; ring of hooks brown.

Fic. 2.—Pupae of S, venustum. A, adult emerging
From Straight Creek, 1911.

16

Bulletin No. 159

Fic. 3—Antenna and mouth-parts o

fS. venustum,
a2’, Oppesite side of niaxilla; 7, antenna; g’ o?, mandible; 4, enlarged

¢,- ventral view of head; a’, maxilla;

Up of mandible; ¢, labium,

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 17

Pupa.—Pupa eases were taken from the same rapids as
the larvze above described. They were of the ‘“‘wall-pocket’’
type and were attached to a bit of submerged bark in one
ease, to rocks in others. They are elongate, leathery, pale
brown, rounded from side to side, becoming gradually wider
to the open end, from which projects the head of the brown
pupa bearing two tufts of respiratory filaments, each tuft
made up of six simple filaments. Length of case 4 mm.
(0.056 inch). The case is closed beneath along the attached
side for about one-half its length.

Only the rounded anterior extremity of the pupa shows
in the case. The brown tapering filaments project some
distance beyond the opening, and together with the case
serve to distinguish members of the genus from any other
aquatic Diptera. The six simple respiratory filaments are
characteristic of but two species likely to occur here, namely,
S. venustum, the black fly, and S. meridionale, the turkey
gnat. The black fly larva differs, however, in having an
independent pair of setz near the tip of the mandible, on
the convex side, and the three large teeth of its labium are
about equal in size, characters in which the Kentucky speci-
mens agree. No adult insects were collected, though I
examined the creek carefully on several different days,
between Pineville and Cary. One of the pupz# was in
process of giving up the adult, as shown in Figure 2, A,
a fact proving the emergence of a fall brood, as do a number
of empty cases secured.

Simulium pecuarum (The Buffalo Gnat*).

In the southern states this gnat is the best known mem-
ber of the genus. It has been at times a great pest to stock
on the bottoms of the Mississippi and other streams in the
South. In former years it was well known in Western Ken-
tucky along both the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers. It is

*The impression has been conveyed that the writer of this bulletin regards the Buffalo
Gnat as the species concerned in conveying the virus of pellagra. I have never regarded
it as an agent of infectlon. All my inquiries of people residing in the region in which
pellagra is most prevalent failed to produce any evidence that this particular species
occurs there. Kesidents knew nothing about it, yet every man, woman and child seemed
to know about the ‘new disease”. On the bottoms of the Mississippi Kiver near Colum-
bus, on the other hand, residents are familiar with the Buffalo Gnat, but know nothing of

pellagra.

18 Bulletin No. 159

still known to the dwellers on these streams. Apparently ;
it is less common than it was in early pioneer days, when,
according to information furnished me, it sometimes ap-
peared in early spring in immense swarms, actually killing
mules and other stock left unprotected in the bottoms. Yet
I cannot find that such an insect is recognized by people
living in the mountains where pellagra is prevalent, and
although the insect is known to attack man, it seems un-
likely that it is the insect agent for conveying the disease.
If it were, we ought to find it in Illinois, and throughout
Hastern Kentucky where pellagra occurs. Other species of
Simulium occur, however, throughout all the territory in
which pellagra is known at present, and even if we exclude
this species from the problem these others must for the
present be considered as possible agents of infection.

£ fi

Fic. 4.—Adult of Buffalo gnat. (S. fecuaram) drawn from alcoholic specimen
Teceived from Texas. x Io.

The adult buffalo gnat is a good deal like the black fly
in general form, being stout-bodied, the thorax especially
prominent and rounded, the legs moderately long, the beak

very short but stout. Its two wings are ample, transparent,

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 19

and few-veined, the stronger veins being close-placed near
the anterior margin.

Aleoholic specimens of the fly received from Dr. M.
Francis of College Station, Texas, many years ago, and thus
probably altered in color, measure 3.3 mm. (0.13 inch) in
length, the relatively large and broad wings measuring a
little more, 3.6 mm. (0.14 inch). The head is somewhat pro-
duced in advance of the eyes, the palpi rather long and
slender, eurving downward and posteriorly. Puncturing
mouth-parts rather short but sharp and strong, not in evi-
dence, except by dissection and microscopic examination.
Antenne about as long as head, rather thick, of numerous
divisions, these crowded, and mostly placed a little obliquely.
Thorax very thick, and strongly convex dorsally to accom-
modate the powerful muscles of flight. Legs of moderate
length, the posterior largest. Abdomen broadly attached to
the thorax, oval and tapering to a point behind.

In his original account of the species the late C. V.
Riley describes the sexes somewhat as follows:

Male.—Eyes meeting and with two sets of facets.
Mouth-parts soft. Head black. Antennz black, with some
red. Maxillary palpi black. Thorax black above. Abdomen
black, with grayish white posterior margins to segments.

Female.—Eyes not meeting. Head gray slate, with
short yellow hairs. Eyes black, with coppery or brassy
reflections. Antenne black with whitish pubescence.
Thorax grayish slate and generally distinctly marked with
two medio-dorsal and two subdorsal longitudinal black
bands. Under side of thorax, grayish slate. Abdomen
with a broad gray longitudinal band from near the base of
the second segment, where it is broadest.

This fly is distributed throughout much of North
America, although often denominated the Southern Buffalo
Gnat because of the immense numbers occurring in the
southern states. It has been recorded from Alaska, New
Hampshire, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Kansas, and
unless several species have been confounded, it is to be
found in many of the other states.

20 Bulletin No. 159

The gnat makes its appearance during the early spring
at a time when bottoms are flooded. The larvz require
rather good water with a current, and are never at home in
stagnant, badly polluted pools. They attach themselves to
submerged sticks, leaves, logs and rails, clinging by means
of.the circle of hooks at the hind end of the body, their hold
being made secure by a silken web spun over the surface,

Fig. 5—Larva of Buffalo Gnat, from an alcoholic specimen from Texas. x 10.
When dislodged they drop down stream suspended by a
silken thread let out from the mouth, and are by its use
enabled to return again to the surface whence dislodged.
The eggs were found placed on rocks on the banks a few
inches above the surface of the water. They are placed in a
close Jayer, are soft, ovoid in shape, except as influenced by
pressure of other objects, and measure 0.40 mm in length
by 0.18 in diameter. The young are believed to feed upon
_small crustaceans and other similar animal food brought to
their mouths by the peculiar brushes of bristles on each side
of.the head. The pupz are formed in leathery brown cases
placed well down in the water on wood where they are not
likely to be left dry during seasons of drought. The re-
spiratory filaments arising from each side of the thoracic
region are many-branched and project beyond the opening
of the case.

In Kentucky in recent years the buffalo gnat has be-
come almost unknown in sections where it was formerly
troublesome. It is still to be found along both the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers from Daviess County westward and south-
ward, though some correspondents in this region say they
have seen’ none for twenty or thirty years. It is evident,
however, that the gnats do occur in noticeable numbers every
season locally, and that in small numbers they are probably
constantly present throughout the bottom land along the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers in Western Kentucky.

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. oT

Yk Np) a

gy 1X
Wan

Fig. 6.—Antenna and mouth-parts of Buffalo Gnat larva. 4, vibratile bristles from ‘side of
mouth; d@, maxilla; f, antenna; g’ g’’, mandible; 2, tip of mandible highly
magnified; 2, labium; 7, hypopharynx.

22 Bulletin No. 159

The appearance of the adult is often very sudden ina
neighborhood, sometimes accompanying a change in the wind.
With strong wings it flies rapidly, and thus probably often
migrates considerable distances from the waters in which it
develops. The gnats attack stock by creeping into the ears
and nostrils, and collect over the prominent veins along the
under side of the body, when very abundant alighting upon
and attacking any part. Riley, who studied the insects many
years ago in Mississippi, says that they are most active during
dark cloudy weather when a storm is brewing, but that in
bright days from eleven o’clock in the morning to four in the
afternoon they are inclined to be inactive.

When first attacked animals suffer greatly, and often
become quite frantic. They grow more accustomed to the
injury after a time and submit to it without fretting. Itis
said that the stock in gnat-infested regions become to an
extent immune, or at any rate animals learn to take better
eare of themselves and do not so often succumb as does
stock recently brought to the region.

The puncture seems to be intensely irritating, and brings
blood at once. Oddly, the poison causes in animals an
ailment resembling colic, a fact which will recall the ac-
companying digestive derangements in pellagra. A poison
of some sort appears to be injected into the blood, and the
result on badly stung animals is said to be somewhat like
that following the bite of the rattlesnake.

Smudges of smoke, and sponging with coal-tar water,
fish oil and some other preparations, are used to repel the
insects. Many of those tried are ineffective.

Simulium pictipes (The Innoxious Sand Fly).

rig. 7,—Larva of S. pictefes. x 10.

The larva of a third species of the genus has long been
known to me as occurring in great numbers in small streams

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 23

flowing into Kentucky River in the region about Clay’s
Ferry about 15 miles southeast of Lexington. It was first
observed July 14, 1893. By simply closing the blades of
my forceps over the rocks in shallow water, then holding
them together and removing them, numbers of the larvee
could be picked up by the silken threads they emit as they
let go their hold and float down stream. They are true silk-
spinners like the other members of the genus.

This is a very large species. Dr. Howard, writing of it
in Insect Life (Vol. 1, p. 99) says of examples collected by
him at Ithaca, New York, that some of them measured
three-fourths inch in length. I have none from our streams
as long as this, but the larvee are much larger than the
others collected in this State.

Adult male.—Dr. Johannsen in an article published in
Bulletin No. 68, N. Y. State Museum describes the male as
gray, the antennez and palpi black; the metanotum with
golden pubescence, black, with lateral margins gray, and a
gray spot extending inward from each humerus; a pair of
silvery spots within the gray ones. Beneath gray. Abdo-
men deep velvety black. Legs black or dark brown. Knobs
of balancers, orange-yellow. Length 3.5 to 4mm.

Adult female.—The same author describes the head and
thorax of the female as opaque gray, the metanotum with
three deep brown or black stripes; abdomen velvety black,
beneath gray. Legs grayish or pallid; tips of tibiz and
tarsi generally black. Knobs of balancers yellowish white.
Length 3 to 5 mm.

Larve in numbers were collected and preserved in
alcohol in 1893. The largest measure about eleven milli-
meters in length, and are blackish, excepting the head,
which is reddish brown, and the ventral side of the swollen
posterior region of the body, which is white. Head of a
decided reddish brown, the large brushes of strongly ciliate
setze of the same color. The usual pair of black specks on
the side of the head, in a pallid area. Antennz of three
segments, the basal long and a little curved, with some ap-
pearance of being subdivided; second segment straight and

24 Bulletin No. 159

fl

NY,
\ \ i} .
hi

mR see
AN} iii

<M

SY

Fig. 8.—Mouth-parts and other structures’ of the larva of S. péctépes. a, dorsal view of
head; 4, stalk of vibratile bristles: c, ventral view of head; e, palpus of maxilla
greatly magnified; 7,antanna; g, mandible; /, tip of mandible greatly magnified;
2, lablum; 7, tip of toot; &, ring of spinules at hind end of body; m, side view, ex-
tremity of abdomen showing protrusibie respiratory appendages,

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 25

more slender, about half the length of the first; third seg-
ment very small and short, acute, one-tenth the length of
the second. Mandibles with an anteapical pair of hairs;
apical teeth strong, acute, black. Labium with a strong
central tooth, outside which on each are three small teeth,
the outer being largest; at each angle is a strong acute
tooth somewhat like the median one but not so large.
External margins slightly convex in outline or nearly
straight, a half dozen small appressed teeth are present just
external to the toothed angle.

The pupa has not been collected by me. Dr. Jonannsen
says its case is boot-shaped. Nine filaments are borne on
each side of the thorax.

The species is not of the same interest at present as the
others, because it is reputed not to sting, and can thus have
nothing to do with the eruption accompanying pellagra. .

Simulium meridionale (The Turkey Gnat).

Quite recently I have collected larve of a Simulium
from rapids in Benson Creek at Frankfort, that possess the
characters of this insect, but this material is so scanty that
I do not care to pronounce on it finally. The turkey gnat
is, however, distributed in the United States somewhat like
the buffalo gnat, and so probably occurs here. It is a well
known stinging species. In Insect Life for July, 1888
(Vol. 1, p. 14) is an interesting note from a correspondent
writing from Virginia to Professor Riley, in which it is
stated that these gnats destroy “‘thousands of chickens and
turkeys yearly’? and that it is called the cholera gnat
because its attacks cause symptoms resembling those of
chicken cholera. Gobblers and roosters are’ killed first
because the wattles and combs afford an exposed region
peculiarly open to attack.

The male, according to Riley, is from 1.5 to 2 mm. in
length, the eyes meeting above, where the facets are coarser
and of a brilliant coppery luster, those on the ventral side
smaller and black. Thorax dense black with bluish luster,
ventral side grayish. Legs reddish with black tarsi. Abdo-

26 Bulletin No. 159

men above black, posterior margin of segments edged with
gray. Ventral sides of segments two and three light red-
‘dish gray, the rest blackish with gray posterior margins.

The female is described by the same writer as from 2.5
to 3 mm. long; the head slate-blue, with silvery pubescence;
the thorax, slate-blue, with three longitudinal lines, the
median narrow and widening at the apex, the outer curving
in at the base and out at the apex; beneath slate-blue; abdo-
men with last five segments dark blue above; segments 2, 3
and 4 each, with a black cross bar; segments 5, 6 and 7, with
two submedian stripes, disappearing on 7; bluish white
everywhere beneath; legs brownish black.

Simulium reptans.

As already stated, this common European species has
been recorded from Greenland, and may yet be found on
this continent. It is described as black, the female with a
white spot on each side of the thorax, the sides of the thorax
silvery.

The name S. reptans has many synonyms, due appar-
ently to the insect being somewhat variable. It would seem
to be a near ally of our Kentucky insect, S. venustum.
Simulium columbaczensis, on the other hand, notorious
because of its injuries to cattle in Hungary and other coun-
tries of the same general region, is apparently the European
analog of our buffalo gnat.

CHIRONOMIDAZ (GNATS).

With the Simulium pupz I took from submerged wood
and other objects in Straight Creek and Cumberland River a
number of singular cases which may perhaps be mistaken
for the pupa cases of Simulium. They are produced by a
slender larva, which is sometimes secured with its head
out of the case, as shown in Figure 9. It is the young
of one of the gnats belonging to the family Chironomide, a
group represented in ponds and lakes by blood-red larvee
living free or within transient tubes of loose granular
material secured to the surfaees of stones. The group is

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. Or

interesting in this relation, because while some of the gen-
era of the family do not sting and cannot be regarded as
noxious, some are pests, and may become the source of a
good deal of annoyance to people living along streams. The
punkie or no-see-em (Ceratopogon nocivum) of northern
woods is anexample. We have this, or a similar species, in
Kentucky, sometimes encountered even about the City
Reservoir at Lexington during the first warm spring days,
and oceasionly within the city limits. Harris says of them
(Insects of Massachusetts, 1852): “‘So small are they that
they would hardly be perceived were it not for their wings
which are of a whitish color mottled with black. Toward
evening these winged atoms come forth and creep under
the clothes of the inhabitants, and by their bites produce an
intolerable irritation.”’ * * * * In my own experience
these minute stinging gnats simply sting the moist back of
of the hand and show little or no disposition to creep under
the clothing.

Fig. 9.—Larva and case of Tanytarsus from Left Fork of
Straight Creek, 1911. X 8%.

The case-making species collected at Cary, Sept. 1, be-
longs to the genus Tanytarsus, and may prove to be
T. exiguus, of Johannsen, though there are some differences
to be accounted for before this can be considered established.

No. 1. Tanytarsus sp.—Length, 3.5mm. Translucent,
white, the head pale yellow. Cylindrical, the somites some-
what thicker anteriorly, segmentation very evident, the
body consisting of twelve somites, of which the anterior
bears a pair of clawed prolegs and the posterior is truncate
and bears two tufts of long black sete on its dorsum, a pair
of retractile clawed prolegs on its ventral side and pos-
teriorly four lanceolate respiratory appendages. The head

28 Bulletin No. 159

is small, firm-walled, with a few sete arising from its
dorsal surface; on each side with two black specks a short
distance behind the base of the antenna, the dorsal of which
is larger. Head 0.286 mm. long, being a little more than

Ce
NSS AK
i fe

Sy
=

i)

Fig. 1o.—Mouth-parts of lerva of Tanytarsus sp. a, labium; 6, mandibles;
c. labrum with characteristic spines; d, left antenna.

twice as long as the antennze. Prominences on which an-
tennz arise, evident. Antenna, .01358 mm. long; Ist seg-
ment slightly curved, a little more than three times as long
as the second, bearing at its tip a slender appendage some-
what longer than the second; second segment straight,
slightly enlarging from base to tip, bearing at its extremity
two acute appendages about two-thirds the length of the
remaining joints; third, fourth, and fifth segments minute
and tapering. Labrum with two strong pectinate claws
curving toward the ventral side; on each side of these claws

. Wore. Ge eee ee =
Whaee ea —
\s i :
ae d 2 : 3 “s : oS 3g : 3 =
<2. \s, 2 pe cece ct OR Le Sa ae thi el oh Sy
asap
Z fee
wey 7
eRe
t/
Fig, t11.—Larva of Tanytarsus removed from case. x 23.

are about five smaller simple claws of the same general
character, all being evidently of service as grappling hooks.
Mandibles strong, curved, with black teeth, as follows: an
apical rather short tooth, a very long strong tooth just
within it, then three shorter teeth of about equal size;
within the latter the mandible expands, as in other related
genera. Labium with black teeth, the median largest and

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 29

longest, with a slight lobe on each side, outside it on each
side are five additional teeth gradually diminishing in size.

Case brown, elongate, straight, or slightly curved,
gradually expanding to its open end, from the edges of
which arise six more or less bent cylindrical processes con-
tinued as ridges along the surface of the case. Processes
about half the length of the case, which measures 3.5 mm.
long, the expanded open end measuring 1 mm. in diameter.
Small cases are continued at the closed end into a slender
stalk, but as far as observed were attached by the side,
to stones, wood, and other objects, in the water. _The case
has an appearance of being composed of mud or refuse
glued together, and is very fragile. The longitudinal ridges
of the surface appear to be produced by building out the
open end of the case by adding material between the pro-
jecting processes.

Dr. Johannsen’s species was obtained from small
streams at Ithaca, New York. The case is, he says, com-
posed of silk, but those from Straight Creek are, as stated,
composed very largely of refuse. Differences between the
larva described by him and those collected by me are ap-
parently as follows: (1) The shorter antennz of the Ken-
tucky species (about half the length of the head); (2) the
acute appendages of the second antennal segment; (3) the
strongly pectinate median claws of the labrum.

No. 2.—This is a second, cylindrical, elongate larva,
taken with others on the under surfaces of rocks in rapids
of the Left Fork of Straight Creek. It resembles the one
inhabiting the brown cases so much that it would by most
people be considered identical. The head is pale yellowish
brown, the two black specks of the sides of the head well
forward and contiguous, though a line separates them.
Antenne short, less than half the length of the head; first
division long, bearing a seta at its distal extremity, nearly
as long as all the rest of the antenna; second segment
without appendages; three small distal segments tapering.
Claws of the prolegs of the first body division numerous,
simple. Posterior clawed legs long and diverging. Two

30 . Bulletin No. 159°

distal tufts of long diverging setz arise from prominences
near the posterior margin of the posterior body segment.
Behind the tufts at the posterior margin of the segment are
two additional sete. Respiratory appendages three-jointed,
tapering. Length of body 5.5 mm.

No. 3. Orthocladius sp.—This larva resembles the two
preceding in a general way and was taken in some numbers
about rocks in Straight Creek near a dwelling occupied by
people affected with pellagra. Cylindrical, elongate, plainly
segmented.. Head yellowish brown, posterior margin at
sides definitely black. Jaws black at tips, curved, acute,
three sharp:denticles within apex, then a strong process from
which springs a very finely denticulate plate expanding to-
ward the base of the jaw. Mentum black at lateral margin,
brown medially; four lateral teeth large, acute, black, tooth
next within smaller, brownish; the next obliquely truncate
and brown; median broad, plate-like, brown. Antennz on
small prominences, less than one-fourth the length of the
head; first sezement longest, bearing at its distal extremity
two acute appendages, one nearly as long as all the remain-
ing segments, the second not quite two-thirds as long;
second segment a little more than one third the length of
the first. Black specks on side of head not quite contiguous,
the anterior much smaller and lunate. Claws of the false
legs of the first body division strongly curved, many of them
toothed. Tufts of hairs at posterior extremity on small
prominences. Respiratory appendages not jointed, the
dorsal pair longer and club-shaped. Length 4.5 mm. The
broad truncate median tooth of the mentum is suggestive
of the genus Thalassomya, as described by authors.

No. 4 Ablabesmyia sp..—A _ single dipterous larva
found at Cary in the Left Fork of Straight Creek is very
different from all the above in a number of features. The
body is rather short and stout, about 4.5 mm. long; the head
relatively large, elongate and flat, with one black speck on
each side, with an anterior fissure. Antenne with the long
first segment largely concealed by an extension of the crust.
Hooks of anterior prolegs retractile. Each body division

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. $1

with several long soft hairs. Segmentation distinct. Pos-
terior prolegs long, projecting far beyond the posterior
somite. Dorsal tufts of setze of posterior somite arising
from long pedicels. Two long setze at posterior edge of the
somite behind the tufts. Respiratory appendages dusky,
tapering, about half the length of the prolegs. See Fig. 26.

Still other larvee belonging to related genera were ob-
served, among them one with swollen anterior body segments
and evidently belonging to the genus Tanypus. They are
largely fragile, harmless gnats when adult, and the relation
they bear to Simulium as competitors or enemies may be the
only one they sustain to the immediate subject of this paper.
Such larve often constitute an important element of the food
of other aquatic animals.

No. 5.—A number of singular dipterous larve were
collected near the Roark cottage on Straight Creek, while
searching for Simulium larvee and have not been definitely
determined. The figures 27 and 28, of larva and pupa; give
a good idea of their character. The specimens were all
taken together from a piece of submerged wood in rapid
water.

It is a sluggish rather stout, tough-skinned grub, with a
small head which widens rapidly from the anterior ex-
tremity to the base, giving it a somewhat triangular outline.
The sides of most of the body divisions are produced and
pointed, each process bearing a long, curved bristle near
its tip. Posterior extremity of body expanded into a
clawed disc. Ventral sides of first body division (pro-
thorax) with two clusters of obliquely-placed, curved,
black hooks. Head dusky brown; antennz short, erect.
A black speck at the base of each. First body division dusky
at sides, widest posteriorly; second, widest of the three
thoracic segments; third, a little narrower, with a very short
lateral point and bristle; first to seventh somites constituting
the abdomen, each with a strong lateral extension and bristle;
eighth division narrower, a little angular at middle, but
with no process; ninth expanded and provided with strong
eurved hooks beneath, a pair of long hairs projecting pos-

32 Bulletin No. 159

teriorly and a median pair of teeth. A pair of bristles arises
on the dorsum of each of the body divisions two to eleven
inclusive, each bristle originating in a black dot. Posterior
somite black centrally. Skin everywhere roughened with
small granulations.

Apparently gregarious. Pupze were taken with the
larve, and still retained the cast larval skin about the pos-
terior part of the body.

CULICIDAZ (MOSQUITOES).

Members of this family are present in the mountains,
but appear to attract less attention than they do in more
level countries in which are more ponds and sluggish
streams. Some larve commonly known as wrigglers are to
be found there in barrels of water and in’ ditches and pools
of various sorts. They were about gone from their usual
haunts, however, and I saw less of them at Pineville than I
probably should earlier in the season. The streams them-
selves because of their rapid current are not well suited to
the requirements of mosquitoes. People with whom I con-
‘versed reported some mosquitoes as giving trouble during the
hot summer months. I found confirmation of their state-
ments in an engorged adult of Anopheles punctipennis in my
room in Pineville. My attention was of necessity concen-
trated on the genus Simulium, and I learned less of the
mosquitoes as a consequence than I otherwise should. More
attention will be given to them later.

Fig, 12.—Larva of Anopheles maculifennis, {rom Horse Creek, Corbin, Ky.,
August, 1911. x 13.
Anopheles sp.—A few minutes use of a dip net ina
sluggish pool of Horse Creek near Corbin, August 29, 1911,

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. oo

resulted in the capture of a larva (figure 12) belonging to
the genus Anopheles. It does not quite agree in structure
or coloration with the species known to me from Kentucky,
but larval characters are rather uncertain quantities, and
with a single example it is not worth while to attempta
determination at present. Even the ‘‘combs’’ of teeth some-
times made use of in separating species, appear to be
variable in the same batch of larve.

a

Fig. 13.—Characteristic stalked tuft of spines from body of
larva of Anopheles from Horse Creek. x 376,

The markings of the head are well represented in the
figure. The singular dusky tufts (figure 13) on the abdomi-
nal somites 8 to 7 inclusive, consist of blade-like spines
denticulate on the margins and mounted on a short stout
pedicel. Six plumose hairs ranged across the head between
the eyes are attached within a dusky area. Body in general
dull gray, with a black dorsal plate on the last abdominal
segment. Length 5.5 mm.

Anopheles punctipennis.—As stated, a single engorged
adult of this strikingly marked species was taken on the
wall of my room at Pineville. It is to be recognized among
our species of mosquitoes by its wings, which are con-
spicuously marked with dusky and yellow, and by a sharply
defined ash-gray area along the dorsal side of the thorax.
These characters, together with its disposition to elevate
the abdomen when at rest should enable any one to recog-
nize it, and at the. same time distinguish it from the ob-

84 Bulletin No. 159

securely marked Anopheles maculipennis, also frequently
found in dwellings in this State.

Fig. 14.—Larva of yellow fever mosquito (Stegomyia fasciata) when hatching.

Stegomyia fasciata (The Yellow Fever Mosquito).—From
a barrel of water near Cary on Straight Creek I took, Octo-
ber 21, 1911, a larva that appears to belong here. It was
late in the season to look for adults, though they occur until
after frost at Lexington. The adult, as stated in a bulletin
published in 1901 (Ky. Experiment Station, No. 96)
is a common household insect in Kentucky, breeding close
about dwellings in buckets, barrels, troughs, ete. If we
should ever be visited by yellow fever refugees this little
pest stands ready to do its part in spreading the disease.
Its disposition to sting the wrists, backs of hands and
ankles is well known, and may suggest a possible relation
between it and the spread of pellagra.

\
LAUTUTIUIALULOSL

V an ‘ \)
uttered ay
WV Eee pyle
OR nA Aha ead
Li yar

aa
(MA
i)

Fig. 15.—Respiratory tube of yellow fever mosquito larva greatly magnified, showing the
two large tracheal trunks.

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. gS

Fig. 16.—Well grown larva of yellow fever mosquito. a@, plumose hairs of body tufts
6, spines from ‘‘comb”’ of posterior body segment; ¢, spines from series on side
of respiratory tube. x 14%.

36 Bulletin No. 159

Fig. 18.—Vibratile hairs from mouth of yellow fever mosquito Jarva.

TIPULIDA= (CRANE FLIES).

In the spring-fed rivulets flowing down the banks of
the Left Fork of Straight Creek, I took October 21, 1911, a
number of the leathery larvz belonging to this group. None
of the adults are known to sting, and excepting as they are
sometimes attracted to lights are not often seen about
dwellings. Larvee of terrestrial species are often found
in large numbers about decaying vegetable matter on lawns,

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. Big

and in fields, where they constitute an important element
of the food of robins.

Fig. 19.—a@, maxilla; 46, labium. Yellow fever mosquito larva.

The aquatic species are generally found among dead
leaves and other vegetable refuse washed into streams, and
probably obtain their food from such sources.

The larve collected near Cary are like other members
of this family of flies, soft-bodied, leathery-skinned, cylin-

Fig, 20.—Pupa of yellow fever mosquito, ventral and side views. x 14%.

38 Bulletin No. 159

drical, dull-gray grubs, with a rather small head more or
less completely withdrawn and concealed in the first body
segment. The body is deeply and simply wrinkled, each
division with a few short erect black hairs, in pairs.
Obscure tubercular prominences become more pronounced
on the ventral sides of the somites, the last one of which
bears three pairs of fleshy, unjointed, dusky appendages, as
follows: A pair of short ones on the dorsal side; a pair of
longer ones, one on each side of the dorsal pair, with a tuft
of black hairs at the tip of each and a couple of small tuber-
cular offshoots; a third still longer pair projecting down-
ward and backward, each bearing a tuft of radiating black
hairs at the tip and with two small tubercles. A pair of
eye-like structures is conspicuous at the back of the short
dorsal pair of appendages. The under side of the posterior
somite bears six soft contorted appendages. Length of
largest example 20 mm.

TABANIDAE (GADFLIES).

Tabanus sp.—A larva of one of these stinging flies was
taken in the Left Fork of Straight Creek near a dwelling
occupied by people suffering with pellagra. The strong-
flying adults produced from such grubs are known as gad
flies, and are common pests of stock, attacking especially
horses and cattle, but not neglecting even hogs, and now
and then venturing upon man himself. The young have
sharp puncturing mouth-parts with which they destroy
snails and other aquatic animals upon which they feed.
They are found in mud and among vegetable refuse at the
bottom, commonly, and being without limbs move by a
wriggling motion, but when dislodged swim to some pur-
pose though rather awkwardly.

It is not likely that they will prove to have anything to
do with pellagra, though the strong beaks of the flies are
efficient instruments for puncturing the tough and thick
skins of cattle, and might easily serve to convey the virus
of diseases. Fortunately they are not commonly disposed
to attack us.

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 39

A single pure white larva twenty millimeters long was
taken among rocks in the Left Fork of Straight Creek,
September 1, 1911. Its body is composed of eleven somites
and an additional small terminal segment is cylindrical and
tapers toward its extremity. A faint brown band follows
the anterior margins of the segments behind the first. At
the anterior edge and ventral sides of segments four and
five are six tubercles. Succeeding segments, except the two
posterior, bear a ring of tubercles, two on the dorsum, the
rest at the sides and beneath.

HEMIPTERA (TRUE BUGS).

This order contains members that are generally to be
found in either standing or running waters, in which they
reside at all periods of their lives, some swimming beneath
the surface where they remain much of their lives con-
cealed from us. When their surroundings become from any
cause unsuited to them, they may, as in the case of the
large electric light bugs (Benacus griseus and Belostoma
americanum) and of the water boatman belonging to the
genus Corisa, leave the water, and fly about in search of a
better stream or pond. They are as a consequence often
captured about electric lights and even in dwellings on hot
summer evenings. The species observed in the Cumberland
River and the tributaries are well known to every boy as
water striders or water skaters, because of their manner of
progression on the surface of water. When pursued they
dive and conceal themselves, but soon reappear at the sur-
face where they float and row themselves about in a leisurely
fashion generally in small schools of from three or four to a
dozen. All these insects are provided with beaks, with
which they capture and kill other animals upon which they
feed. Occasionally the collector receives a severe stab from
such species as Naucoris poeyi, when handling water plants,
but so far as I know, the aquatic species do not at any stage
of their lives deliberately attack man. They are interesting
in this connection because of their association with Simulium
and other stinging gnats in our waters.

40 Bulletin No. 159

Two small, blackish species were rather common in
Straight Creek and in the Cumberland River at Pineville.
The commonest one is represented by figure 35. It is with-
out wings, and rows itself about with such rapidity that it
is not easily captured. On each of its middle feet is a fan
composed of feathered hairs which are caught and held
expanded by a claw of the split tarsus. This fan appears to
dip beneath the surface when in use and gives its possessor
a purchase on the water much like that obtained by a boat-
man with an oar. .

Rhagovelia obesa, Uhler.—At the edges of the creeks
and of Cumberland River small schools of these water
striders, so-called, were often observed. They were es-
pecially common near Cary in Straight Creek and in the gap
of Pine Mountain along the rapids of the river. They gen-
erally stayed in the sheltered places about submerged rocks
in the larger stream, but are surprisingly quick in escaping
the collector’s net, and are quite able to care for themselves
under any circumstances likely to arise in the swift current.
These little insects are provided with a jointed beak and
prey upon other insects which fall upon the water.

Length 3.2—3.3 mm. Division of body following the
head widest. Front of head nearly even with the rounded
eyes. Legs long, slender, the middle pair longest and
bearing a fan-shaped tuft of plumose hairs (lacking in
the young), kept expanded by claws of the tarsus. Last
tarsal segment long, split. Abdomen of the male with
straight carinz along the margins of the abdominal somites
terminating abruptly at the sides near the tip without
meeting. In the female ridges originate at the sides of
the thorax, thence curve backward and inward extending
along the dorsum of the abdomen and meeting behind.
Posterior femora of male noticeably thickened, and bearing
behind a spine followed outwardly by a series of small denti-.
cles. In the female the large spine alone is present and the
femora are not thickened. Both sexes are wingless in all
examples collected. Color black. Antenne and legs whitish
at bases. A pair of transverse yellow spots on the dorsal

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 41

side of the thorax just behind the head. Carinze of abdomen
brown.

Metrobates hesperius.—A second species resembling the
preceding in a general way, but with the four long slender ©
tapering hind legs attached well back and close together,
was found on one occasion, August 31, 1911, in the water at
the edge of Cumberland River. It is a very alert species,
and somewhat difficult of capture. Two females and one.
male were secured.

It is broad oval in shape, the female 3.8 mm. long, the
male about the same in length, but much more slender and
with a protruding cylindrical terminal abdominal segment.
Wingless. Color black, a dull yellowish red spot on the
occiput, excised in front. Eyes reddish brown. A relatively
large bright yellow spot in the middle of the prothorax
above, touching the posterior margin, but not reaching the
anterior edge. Antenne black, yellow at base. Legs black,
bases of front pair and the prosternum dull yellow. A yel-
low mark in front of the bases of the middle legs. Under a
lens a blue-gray longitudinal band is seen to extend along
the middle of the thorax above. Another similar well-
defined area extends along the sides. At the edges of the
abdominal somites also the same color appears, and much of
the ventral surface is so colored.

This insect resembles another water strider, Trepobates
pictus, collected by me in 1889 and subsequently in rocky
streams at Lexington, but the latter is elaborately marked
with yellow and is more slender. Other larger species of
the group Hygrotrechus remigis and Limnotrechus margin-
atus, are common in most streams in Blue-grass Kentucky.
They are predatory insects, feeding upon flies and other
insects that become stranded on the surface of water. As
far as known they have no objectionable traits.

COLEOPTERA (BEETLES).

In most quiet fresh waters are to be found numbers of
flattish beetles which swim well by means of their legs,
which are in many cases expanded and fringed for the pur-

42 Bulletin No. 159

pose. In the swift streams of mountain regiors these
beetles of the family Hydrophilidze and Dytiscidz are not
commonly seen. They appear not to endure buffeting well
enough to hold their own in such waters. But their places
are taken by others which are perfectly able to take care of
themselves in the swiftest currents. One of the whirligig
beetles was observed repeatedly in both creeks and rivers,
often lurking in sheltered nooks among partly submerged
rocks, but striking out in the swift current if pursued and
when pressed diving to the bottom. These beetles are ex-
clusively aquatic, their form and flattened middle and hind

Ge ZEZS

S SE ie

Fig. 21.—Expanded legs ot the whirligig beetle, Dineutes discolor.
a, right hind leg; 4, right middle leg. Greatly magnified.

legs rendering them strong swimmers and unsuiting them
for locomotion on the land. They have four compound
eyes, or at any rate four independent divisions, two looking
downward in the water and two looking upward.

The only species collected was Dineutes discolor. Itis
shining black with an olivaceous cast, in some lights with
purple and bronzy reflections, especially about the head and
the anterior edges of the wing covers. Eyes in preserved
examples, reddish brown. Body rapidly contracted forward
from the middle of the wing covers and meeting evenly
behind with angles little evident and margin not serrulate.
Labrum protruding, rounded, with a dense silken white

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 43

fringe of hairs. A tuft of similar hairs about the bases of
the antennze. Body beneath yellow to reddish, darker at the
sutures. Legs reddish yellow. Male, length 11.1; diameter
5.5mm. Female, length 13.4; diameter 6 mm.

These insects are predatory, both in the larva and adult
stages. The young were not seen. Larve of the genus
may be recognized by their elongate slender bodies bearing
on each abdominal segment a pair of long lateral plumose
respiratory appendages, the posterior somite with four such
appendages directed posteriorly.

Parnide.

Perhaps the most characteristic beetles of the waters
are members of this family. The adults appear by structure
completely unadapted to life in the water, being provided
with legs of the type seen in most terrestrial members of
the order Coleoptera. They do not swim, but by means of
long and strong tarsal claws cling tightly to the under sides
of stones and wood, and are there shielded to some extent
from the force of the current. Several species were rather
common in the streams, and examples are figured.

The larve are among the most singular of the immature
stages of aquatic insects. The crust of the dorsal side of
the body is in them greatly developed, expanded, and the
segments closely fitted to each other, producing a convex
shield, the edges of which are held close against the under-
side of objects in the water. The limbs and head of the
insect itself are to be seen only when the larva is detached
and turned over. Like the adult it does not swim, but
trusts to its capacity to cling tightly, and thus lives and
thrives where the water races and tumbles among the rocks.
The species are so generally present where Simulium was.
found that I have thought it worth while to note below the
different species collected in the streams, having in mind a
possible relation between the two, either as competitors or
enemies.

Dryops lithophilus, Germ.—An elongate moderately con-
vex black beetle, of a faint bronzy green color, found

4h Bulletin No. 159

clinging to the undersides of rocks in swift water. Head
withdrawn in thorax up to the eyes. Thorax with sides
rounded, anterior lateral angles acute, projecting forward
as a spine alongside each eye. Wing covers contracted and
sloping rapidly behind the middle, meeting behind in an
acute angle. Surface evenly clothed with fine appressed
silky pubescence. Antenne, palpi and tarsi reddish. Legs
in the main black. Length 4.3—4.4 mm.; diameter 2 mm.
The most common and generally distributed species in
Straight Creek and Cumberland River.

Dryops fastigiatus, Say.—This species resembles the
preceding in a general way and is of about the same size.
Black, rather coarsely and unevenly pubescent, the hairs
being largely wanting from the region adjacent to the suture
of the wing cover, and on the sloping posterior region of the
thorax. Head immersed. Prothorax broadly rounded and
a trifle angulate behind the middle. Anterior lateral angles
slightly apiculate. Pubescence yellow. Legs black; tarsi
reddish. Palpi reddish. Antenne short. Length 5 mm;
diameter 2.3 mm. |

This insect was found associated with the preceding in
Straight Creek, August 29, 1911, and in Cumberland River,
August 31, but is relatively rare.

Stenelmis crenatus, Say.—A small rather slender gray
beetle collected August 31, 1911, in the Cumberland River,
at Pineville, September 1, in rapids of the Left Fork of
Straight Creek, and on September 4, in Benson Creek at
Frankfort. Head projecting. Antennz slender, reddish.
Prothorax with a rather deep median longitudinal channel
bounded by two carine. Several obscure prominences on
each side. Front angles acute, sides rounded behind, con-
‘verging and nearly straight in front. Wing cover dull gray,
with a ridge beginning on each side of the scutellum and ©
gradually fading out a little beyond the middle of the
elytron. A second decided ridge begins at each humerus
and extends posteriorly and a little inwardly, terminating
rather abruptly where the posterior slope descends to the
tips. Legs gray, tarsi reddish, an obscure red spot between

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 4d

the ridges of the wing cover and a second at the extremity
of the lateral ridge. Length 3.2; diameter 1.4 mm.

The examples of the species collected in the Left Fork
of Straight Creek, September 1, and in Benson Creek at
Frankfort, September 24, differ in having the red of the
elytra continued to form an obscure stripe.

Macronychus glabratus, Say.— Black, elongate, shining,
punctured. Antennz short, reddish; palpi reddish; distal
segment of maxillary palpi black. Thorax elongate, widest
behind, sides straight and rapidly converging from an angle
behind the middle. Anterior margin pallid, wing covers
with an obscure ridge near the suture, fading out beyond
the middle. A conspicuous ridge terminates abruptly at the
slope behind. Outside the latter ridge, and extending in-
ward beyond it, is a silken whitish stripe. Legs long,
sprangling, black, tarsi reddish; tibiz with silken pubes-
cence within. Pubescence of thorax scattered, golden, a
trifle longer and more conspicuous on each side of the
median line. -A similar line of conspicuous golden pubes-
cence on each side of the elytral suture. Length 2.7;
diameter 1 mm.

Next to Dryops lithophilus, the most common species.
It occurs in similar situations, but is less generally dis-
tributed. Cumberland River, Pineville, August 31; Left
Fork Straight Creek, Sept. 1.

Ancyronyx variegatus, Germ.—This oddly marked beetle
was not rare in the waters collected from. Specimens were
collected in Clear Creek, August 31, and in the Left Fork of
Straight Creek, Sept. 1.

Head black, exserted, antennz slender, pale yellow,
apex black. Thorax wide behind, strongly narrowed in
front, and projecting over the head. A broad yellow trans- |
verse band along the anterior margin. Posterior margin
more narrowly and obscurely yellow. Wing covers with a
conspicuous bent yellow band beginning at the humerus and
extending inward to the suture where it is narrowed, then
widening and extending outward nearly to the margin. An
elongate yellow spot on each side near the suture on the

46 Bulletin No. 159

sloping part of the wing cover. Legs black; femora yellow
at base; tibize largely yellow; tarsi black, with yellow claws.
Length 2.7; diameter 1.7 mm.

Larva No. 1 (Parnide).—Yellow, marked with dark
brown. A series of round dots follows the margin, each
placed just before a suture between segments. Anterior
and lateral regions just within the dots reticulate with
brown. Central region more completely brown, with a
series of round dots along the median line and a second
series on each side of it on the abdominal segments, the
latter dots transversely lengthened. Margin fringed with
close-placed rigid golden yellow hairs.

a iil
Fig. 22.—Buckler-shaped larva of beetle of the family Parnide. a, ventral
view of posterior part of body, showing the two tufts of gill
filaments. Larva No.1of Text. x6.

Largely yellow ventrally, the marginal dots the only
conspicuous markings.

Convex above, beneath concave, the body proper ele-
vated, and the head free, with a pair of slender yellow
antenne and dark eyes. Legs strong, not reaching beyond
the expanded terga, and thus giving the insect an appear-
ance of being legless when viewed from above. Just pos-
terior to the third pair of legs on each side are several tufts
of long white respiratory filaments. Ten somites appear to
be outlined in the terga, with median anterior and posterior
plates added. Length 7—9; diameter 4.7—7.6 mm.

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 47

Collected adhering to the under sides of stones in Laurel
River, Corbin; Clear Creek, August 31; Cumberland River,
Pineville, August 31.

Larva No. 2 (Parnidee).—A smaller and more slender
species of the family was taken from Laurel River at Corbin
in August. The preserved specimen is reddish brown,
dusted with black, the sutures at the sides sharply black.
Beneath yellow, with the black sutures at the sides con-
spicuous. Four white respiratory filaments behind the legs.
Length 9 mm.; diameter 6 mm.

Larva No. 3.—An elongate brown larva was taken
from Cumberland River, October 12, 1911, that appears to
belong to the order Coleoptera, but cannot be exactly placed
with the literature at hand.

Elongate, brown, tapering to the posterior extremity,
with two dusky longitudinal lines along the middle of the
back and outside this aseries of dots. Head well developed.
Three pairs of jointed legs. A brush of retractile hairs at
the posterior end of the body. These are thrust out when
the insect is detached from its hold on submerged plants or
roots and seem to be kept concealed when the insect is at
rest. It was found clinging to exposed roots in Cumberland
River in October, and lies lengthwise of the root to which it
clings, thus escaping observation. When detached it is
evidently uncomfortable, and returns as soon as possible to
any root or stick within reach, at once placing itself length-
wise of the object, and clinging tightly even when removed
from the water. Length 3 mm.

TRICHOPTERA (CASE-FLIES).

In working among the rapids of the rivers and creeks
I frequently came across pebbles secured together and
attached loosely to the under sides of rocks. They were
recognized as the shelters made by certain larve belonging
to this group of insects. The insects construct a delicate
net between the pebbles, often of considerable size, so as to
catch floating objects suitable- for food. The shelters and
nets are often broken up and destroyed when the rocks are
moved, and the larve are thus likely to be encountered

48 Bulletin No. 159

creeping about as if free. Several species were collected in
the waters examined, together with others which construct
and drag about with them very characteristic cases. Some
of these cases obtained are composed of bits of sand glued
together in a spiral form so as to resemble a small snail
shell, the larva living within, keeping its head and rather
long legs in the opening. Other cases collected are cylin-
drical and composed of bits of wood -or other vegetable
matter. Types of the different larvee and of the cases are
described and figured so as to give a definite idea of their
appearance. These singular and interesting larvze are in
part*predatory and carnivorous, such members of the group
frequenting the situations preferred by Simulium larve,
and probably at times act as enemies or competitors of the
latter; in fact Miall definitely states it to be a fact that
European species feed upon Simulium.

When ready to become pupe case-fly larveze secure their
cases to rocks or other heavy objects in the water, close up
the apertures, leaving, however, openings for the circulation
of the water, and become quiescent. A single pupa, prob-
ably one of the net-making species, was taken from Straight
Creek near Pineville, enclosed in a short case made of coarse
bits of sand, the whole attached to a rock. Adult case-flies
are delicate little four-winged insects often seen at lights in
dwellings, and in very large numbers about the arc electric
lights of towns and cities in the State. They look somewhat
like a clothes moth, and are not commonly discriminated
from these insects, all being called candle flies. A species
(Hydropsyche speciosa) with blotched wings is especially
common at times in midsummer about the electric lights at
Lexington. They are all harmless to us.

Case-fly No. 1.—A cylindrical case, with small bits of
woody material fastened over the surface. Straight, or a
little curved, the smaller extremity fitted with a round dise
within the aperture, provided with a single slit-like opening.
About this end, some bits of sand are attached as if to
anchor it. Length 13 mm.; diameter 2.5 mm.; at smaller
end, 1.8 mm. Another example measures 14x2.9x2.6 mm.

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 49

Case-fly No. 2.—A second case collected is cylindrical
and covered with elongate bits of woody material, some of
it obliquely placed. Rougher than No. 1, and thicker. Both
apertures closed, and thus probably contains a pupa. Large
aperture with agrating, and with sand grains attached about
it. The opposite end has a small aperture with three rounded
extensions. Length of case 16.5 mm.; diameter at smaller
end 3.4 mm.; at larger end 3.9 mm.

Case-fly Larva No. 3.—Case spiral, covered with grains
of sand firmly glued together and making a hard tough
structure. Diameter 4, depth 2mm. Convex above, with a
small, deep, round central cavity below. Whorls three, sep-
arated by a slight groove. Aperture wide, the head kept
just within, the legs more or less projecting. Taken from
rocks in very rapid water in Clear Creek, Pineville August 31.
Larvze were removed from these cases with some difficulty.
The body is curved to fit the case, and clings by hooks at
the posterior end. The case itself, as already noted, is ex-
tremely tough and hard, so that one is likely to damage the
insect before it can be removed.

Larva pure white in general, the head brownish black,
with a pallid area about the eye speck on each side. With
erect black hairs. Jaws acute, black; other mouth-parts
largely pallid and protruding. Throat white, with several
brown dots on each side. Thoracic divisions with erect
hairs; first division of thorax with black shield; second and
third with some black above, on sides, and about the bases
of legs, Legs of moderate length, those of the third pair
longest, projecting forward before the head. Tarsal claw
strongly curved. First abdominal division with an elongate
prominence above. All the abdominal divisions smooth, with
delicate respiratory appendages on some of the anterior
somites. A pair of brown claws on the ventral side of the
‘last division of the body. See Fig. 41.

This interesting species is widely distributed in Eastern
Kentucky and can probably be found in most of our small
streams. It was collected by me in a rocky stream in a
meadow at Lexington, August 5, 1889, when the cases were

50 Bulletin No. 159

closed by a thin flexible brown concentrically striate silken
disc, each with an excentric curved slit. Pupz were already
formed in some of them, lying with the head just. behind the
disc. Other specimens were collected in Elkhorn Creek,
near Lexington, July 4, 1890, and at Elk Lick Falls, July 14,
1893. The late A. S. Packard named the species producing
a spiral shell in New England, Helicopsyche glabra, but in
the American Naturalist for 1869, p. 160, quotes Hagen as
pronouncing it H. borealis. Hagen in the same connection
states that he thinks a species described by Lea, the con-
cologist, as Valvata arenifera, from the Cumberland River,
near Nashville, is different. Ulmer in ‘‘Genera Insectorum”’
lists Lea’s name asa valid one. It was used by Lea in the
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 4,
p. 104, 1834. There is some reason for thinking that the
- Kentucky material represents the supposed snail described -
by Lea. Judging by Packard’s description and figures the
case of the Kentucky insect differs from that of H. borealis
in being composed of much coarser material, and the silken
disc spun in the aperture before pupation appears to lack
the slender teeth which he says project from each side over
the slit and form an imperfect grating.

The pupa is enclosed in a thin pellicle, probably cast
when the adult emerges. A sharp tooth projects forward
from the mouth. Eyes conspicuous. The long antenne and
legs lie free along the sides of the body. On the back of
the abdominal segments are short spines, some projecting
backward and the others forward, probably of service in
getting out of the shell finally. The long body is curved to
fit the shell and bears a bar and tuft of hairs at the end.
Length about 6 mm.

Case-fly Larva No. 4.—A third larva resembles the pre-
ceding in general structure, but is provided with branched
appendages of respiration on the ventral side of the body.
While the surface everywhere is rather densely pubescent,
the last segment bearing a pair of long, clawed, false legs,
each with a brush of long plumose hairs, generally loaded
with dirt and often bearing living stalked Protozoans, which

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 51

thus obtain free transportation. It was collected in the
broken up shelters made of pebbles and found under rocks.
It is probably the owner of these shelters and a member of
the genus Hydropsyche.

Body pubescent. Head small, and with three thoracic
somites, brownish black dorsally. Eye in a pallid area.
Jointed legs yellow, pubescent. Second and third thoracic
and six abdominal somites with whitish ventral branched
appendages.

Possibly several species are represented among material
collected with the above. One example noted has a green
abdomen. Others show several protrusible finger-like ap-
pendages dorsal to the posterior false legs. The head has a
peculiar unfinished appearance, and is shorter and smaller
every way than the heads of: other free-living larve col-
lected. The pubescent body and long brush of hairs on the
false legs were generally loaded with sediment in the
streams of Bell County. Examples of what appears to be
the same insect from Benson Creek in Franklin County bore
very little such material. This same insect was collected at
Elk Lick Falls, July 14, 1893.

Case-fly Larva No. 5.—A single example of this species
was taken from the Left Fork of Straight Creek, October
21, 1911. It resembles No. 4 in a general way, having a
-fine pubescence over head and body, and being provided
with similar branched ventral appendages on the thorax
and abdomen. The brush of the false legs at the posterior
extremity is not so dense. The head is larger, more
elongate, thickened dorso-ventrally in the occipital region.
Dusky above on head and thorax. A pallid region about the
eye extends posteriorly on the side of the head and then
dorsally along the occiput. It is probably a Hydropsyche.

Case-fly Larva No. 6.—Length of large examples 10mm.
Pure white. No ventral branched appendages. Head large
relatively and elongate, yellow, the eye well forward just
posterior to bases of mandibles. A large white membranous
T-shaped expansion of the upper lip overlying the mandibles.
Dorsal plate of prothorax and legs pale yellow. Posterior

52 Bulletin No. 159

edge of head at sides, and sutures on side of thorax at bases
of the legs, black. Body with scattered erect hairs. No
branched respiratory appendages. False legs at posterior
end of body somewhat tapering, with a claw and a couple of
long hairs. Fleshy terminal protrusible appendages are
apparent in some examples, dorsal to the false legs on the
last somite. One example, Cumberland River, September 1,
another October 22; a half dozen examples, Left Fork of
Straight Creek, October 21, 1911. The unprotected, soft
condition of the body indicates a larva inhabiting a close
shelter, or case of some sort. The head, with its strong
sharp jaws denotes carnivorous habits. It is probably a
member of the genus Polycentropus.

Case-fly Larva No. 7.—One small larva differing from
all of the above case-fly young was taken from the Cumber-
land River, August 31. It is yellowish, a trifle dusky on the
terga of the abdominal segments, with scattered erect hairs
on head and thorax, becoming more numerous but of the
same character on the abdomen. Head large relatively,
elongate and oddly flattened from the mouth backward, the
area produced sloping gradually upward to the occiput and
with a definite margin at each side, passing just over the
small eye. Head and thoracic plates yellow. Jointed legs
pallid. Branched ventral appendages white. Two divergent
posterior false legs with strong curved claws, and about six
long straight hairs. This species resembles No. 5, but its
flattened head and lack of pubescence distinguishes it.
Probably a Hydropsyche.

Case-fly No. 8.—A rather large cylindrical case was col-
lected by me in Clear Creek near Pineville, June 16, 1892,
and appears to be different from Nos. 1 and’2. It is
pretty even in diameter from end to end, measuring
6 mm. in diameter and 24 mm. in length. It is occupied
by a larva with a short reddish-brown head. The hooks at
the hind end of its body still retain it in its case so securely
that to examine it would involve breaking the case or
injuring the insect. The whole case is covered with bits of
gravel, and one end is closed with a rather large white frag-

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 53

ment. This case has the dimensions and general character
of one described as Halesus sp., by Professor Cornelius
Betten, New York Mus. Bul. 47, p. 569. The Kentucky case
has no wood about it, and the head of the larva is not
marked with black.

Case-fly No. 9.—A rather slender cylindrical case with
thin walls covered with fine grains of sand was collected by
me June 15, 1892, in the Cumberland River, at Pineville.
Length 15 mm., diameter 3 mm. Very slightly tapering
from the head end. Both ends closed with a thin disc of
silk set a little distance within the aperture, the one in the
larger opening with a straight eccentric slit for respiration.
Edges of the apertures with bits of woody material attached.

NEUROPTERA (HELLGRAMMITES).

One of the most characteristic insects of the creeks and
rivers is the singular and formidable looking dobson or hell-
grammite (Corydalis cornuta). It is more common under
rocks in these streams than I have ever observed it else-
_ where in the United States. Boys who were attracted by
curiosity to my operations called the larve grampuses, and
expressed fear of them. They nip with their strong mandi-
bles with a good deal of spirit, and no doubt prove very
destructive to the small fry living in the rapids with them.
Adults gather in large numbers about the electric lights of
Pineville, in July, and some years ago I secured at an arc
light at the edge of the town more than I have collected
elsewhere in many years. They are calculated to have a
decided influence on the organisms of these waters, but are
at no stage of their lives to be greatly feared by man. The
adult males have a ferocious appearance from the great
length of their jaws, and will use them freely if given an
opportunity, yet they are ordinarily used only in self-
defense. The young make good bait, it is said.

The Grampus (Corydalis cornuta).—Large, reaching
a length of over two inches. Black, pubescent, rough,
forbidding in appearance. Body ftattened. Head large,
flattish, jaws strong. Legs short and stout, provided

54 Bulletin No. 159

with two claws, these sometimes double and often re-
inforced by curved spines. Prothoracic shield longer than
wide, large. Middle and posterior thoracic somites with
small transverse shields. Abdominal somites with a hairy,
tapering, lateral filament on each side; beneath and within
the filaments of each side are tufts of slender branchial
filaments on the abdominal somites one to seven, inclusive.
A pair of terminal false feet present, each with two long
curved claws and a filament, like those along the sides, but
more slender.

Fig. 23.—Larva of grampus or hellgrammite ( Corydalts cornuta). x \%.

It was constantly met prowling about under rocks, often
with its body coated with mud and refuse, as if for conceal-
ment. Its eyes are in a cluster on each side of the head, but ~
are not conspicuous in the large larve because of the dark
hue of the whole animal. Younger larve presumed to be
this have the head and first body division reddish brown,
marked with black, and the black eye-specks are con-
spicuous, forming a cluster on each side of the head, one of
them occupying the center, the rest ranged in a curved
series about it, the ventral median one smaller than the rest.

The smallest larva of the family collected is white, and
the branched respiratory structures of the abdominal somites
consist of a basal piece and several simple branches, as in
some of the case-fly larvee described. Possibly it is a differ-
ent species. It was taken in the Left Fork of Straight
Creek, September 1, 1911.

EPHEMERIDA (MAY FLIES).

Perhaps the comfnonest insects inhabiting the swift
waters collected from about Pineville and indeed everywhere

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 55

in the State, are the larve of fragile, gauzy-winged insects
known as May flies. Though holding their own against the
current as well as tougher-skinned and more strongly built
insects, they do this more by virtue of their expertness in
sticking close to the under sides of rocks than by their
capacity to swim. They resemble somewhat the stone flies
in general appearance, being, like them, provided with
slender, tapering antennz and long, jointed, caudal stylets,
three in number, however, in well-grown examples, where-
as the stone fly young have at all stages only two. They
can always be distinguished by the presence of gills, plate-
like in all the species collected, along the sides of the
abdomen, and by the presence of but one tarsal claw.
Adults of small species belonging to this group of insects
were emerging October 23, 1911, at Pineville, and were
found in some numbers early in the morning in the mud
and sand at the edge of the water, though the temperature
atthe time wasclose to freezing. These were doubtless from
some of the small larvee, noted farther along under No. 4 of
this part of my account. They are slender, pallid, fragile
insects, with large membranous front wings and small or
minute hind ones. At the end of the body are two long
slender setz. The creatures are rather feeble fliers and
after mating drop their eggs in the water and soon die.
The members of the group are sometimes called day flies,
the adults being popularly supposed to live but a day. They
do indeed last but a short time, once adult, but live for a
year or more in the water.

Ephemeride Larva No. 1.—A common and widely dis-
tributed larva of the group was taken in all the mountain
streams examined. Its body is flat, the head broad, the
outline everywhere rounded. The simple eyes are accom-
panied by three pale dots. ‘The series of gills along the
sides of the abdomen are terminated by a simple fringed
filament behind. The abdominal segments are provided
with a strong sharp tooth at each side. The caudal ap-
pendages are noticeably setose. The color above is a mixed
pattern of black and pale yellow; the legs are banded with

56 Bulletin No. 159 .

dusky. The caudal setze are of a decided yellow. Beneath,
pale yellow, the posterior edges of the abdominal somites
dusky, the posterior ones more completely so. Length
10 mm. Cumberland River, Straight Creek, Benson Creek,
and brooks about Lexington.

Ephemeride Larva No. 2.—This larva is figured in this
bulletin (Fig. 46). It is less common than No. 1, but bears
a close general resemblance.

The abdominal segments are not toothed. The caudal
setze are only very slightly setose and are distinctly banded
with white and black. Length 9.5mm. Cumberland River
and Straight Creek.

Ephemeride Larva No. 3.(Chirotenetes sp.)—One of the
most striking insect larvze collected is of a deep umber-
brown color, with a pale stripe along the back, the legs
sharply banded with black and white. Head small and not
flat. Thorax strongly convex and not expanded. Tibiz of
anterior legs with strong spines and a double fringe of long
hairs. Wing-pads black. Gill-plates alongside of abdomen
turned outward, each with a large purple central area.
Abdomen marked with black at the edges of segments, two
at the posterior extremity with the lateral angles produced
into a sharp spine. Central caudal seta shorter than the
others, heavily fringed along the sides, the extreme base
black, then more than half the length a deep yellow, then a
band of black, the distal portion white. Lateral sete
heavily fringed within, marked like the median seta, but
with a slender black terminal unfringed region beyond the
white. Length 12.3 mm. Cumberland River, Left Fork of
Straight Creek, Benson Creek.

An adult of this insect was collected October 21, 1911,
at the edge of Cumberland River at Pineville. Its body
resembles somewhat closely in form, general structure, and
even color, that of the young. The second and third pairs
of legs are pure white. The wings are smoky, the veins
black. Two slender caudal setz are pallid. I take this to
be Chirotenetes albomanicatus, described by Professor Need-
ham, who says of the larva, that it feeds upon the larve of

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. SV

Simulium, but appears to take a mixed food, consisting of
algee as well as insects.

Ephemeride Larva No. 4.—Several very small larve,
having the same general form as No. 8 were everywhere
common in the rapids of the streams. They are generally
pale whitish with obscure dusky markings, most of them
with a dusky band across the heavily fringed caudal sete.

Adults from some of these larve were emerging from
the water October 23, 1911, at Pineville, and were found
stranded on mud and sand at the edge of the river. The
males have singular large cap-shaped eyes meeting on the
top of the head and in addition a smaller second eye is
present on the side of the head beneath the other. The
abdomen is provided with but two seteze. Dried specimens
brought home with me measure from two to four millimeters
in length, and probably represent several species.

ODONATA (DRAGON FLIES).

This group of striking insects is represented by indi-
viduals about all fresh waters of this country. The species
are not very closely discriminated by the angler and hunter,
but every one knows them by the name dragon flies, snake
doctors, and mosquito hawks. They are powerful fliers,
with enormous eyes and often gaudy colors, which flit back
and forth over the water, some species appearing very early
in spring, but most of them during the hot weather of July
and August. The adults are provided with strong jaws, but
never attack large animals of any sort, their prey being
small insects which they capture on the wing. No doubt
their influence is felt by the small fry of this sort, especially
in the immediate neighborhood of streams and pools. They
do not so often appear about dwellings, and it may be
questioned if they have any special effect on the members
of our house-infesting mosquitoes, since these generally
breed close about dwellings.

The young of these showy insects are rather obscure
water-frequenting animals, lurking about the bottom, partly
buried in mud or rubbish, sometimes clinging to water

58 Bulletin No. 159

plants, and to be found in some numbers under stones and
boards. In contrast with the habit of the adult these larvee
are still-hunters, lying in wait, often concealed, until suita-
ble prey comes within their reach, when suddenly they
thrust out a peculiar lower lip with strong jaws at its ex-
tremity and fasten upon it. They destroy in this way hosts
of small insects, Simulium probably among the rest, and
attack and sometimes do a good deal of mischief to very
young fish fry.

The larve of this order collected in Laurel River, Cum-
berland River, Straight Creek, and Clear Creek, represent
two main groups, one of which comprises rather slender
species (Represented by Fig. 45) with three long flat plates
for respiration at the hind end of the body. These are the
young of the damsel flies, very slender and rather small
gauzy-winged insects known to everybody from their dispo-
sition to alight on one’s float or cork when fishing. The
second group lacks these plates, and is composed of larger
broader species (See Fig. 44) which respire by means of
gills placed on the walls of the hind portion of the digestive
tube.

Species of Progomphus, Gomphus, Macromia, Calop-
teryx, etc., were collected among the rocks on which
Simulium larve occurred.

PLECTOPTERA (STONE FLIES).

In every locality collected from, I found a few repre-
sentatives of this group of aquatic insects. The larve were
associated with many examples of the group Ephemerida,
but not more than one of the stone fly larve to a hundred
of the others was seen. They are flat insects with wide
heads, the thorax in three broad divisions, the antennze
many jointed and long, the abdomen terminating in two
long, tapering jointed stylets, much like the antenne in
structure. They are active predatory insects, feeding with
special relish upon gnat larve, according to Miall. They
are found with Simulium in rapids, on the under sides of
rocks, which surfaces they quickly regain if permitted when

Localities in which Pellagra tis Prevalent. 59

rocks are overturned. Three different forms of these larvee
were collected. By far the commonest is represented by
Figure 47,

Larva No. 1.—Elongate, flattish, the head wide, pro-
duced into a pronounced angle behind each eye. Next three
divisions (thoracic) of body with expanded dorsal plates,
the two hindmost a little produced backward at sides. Six
tufts of fine gill-filaments are placed about the legs of each
side, and another within the base of each long posterior
abdominal sylet, making fourteen in all. The back is
brightly marked with black and yellow. The longest ex-
ample, taken June 15, 1892, from the. Cumberland River, at
Pineville, is about three-quarters of an inch long. Other
examples collected. from Straight Creek, Clear Creek and
Cumberland River, in August and October, 1911, range from
5 to 20 mm. in length.

Larva No. 2.—Small, slender, the head and thorax but
little wider than the abdomen, the sides of the head behind
the eyes rounded and not produced. Abdomen rather long,
its sides parallel. No gills. Color plain olive. One example
5.5 mm. long, but with the wing pads well developed and
thus ready to produce the adult, was taken from Horse
Creek at Corbin, August 29, 1911.

Larva No. 3.—A singular, flat larva was taken from
a spring-fed rill near Cary along Straight Creek, October
21, 1911. It is represented in my Figure 48. In general
shape it resembles a small roach, the head and thorax being
excessively expanded, the antennz tapering, and the stout
legs with two tarsal claws. The length of this example is
6 mm., its greatest width 2.5 mm. On looking over some
old material collected by me at Pineville in June, 1892, I find
a second example of the same insect, measuring 2.5 mm. in
length. Head wide, bent downward; eyes at outer angles;
antenne long, regularly tapering, many jointed (broken at
tips). Dorsal plates of the-three thoracic divisions broadly
expanded, overlapping, the posterior lateral angles rounded,
the posterior margin broadly and evenly, though slightly
concave. Abdominal somites abruptly narrower, contracting

60 Bulletin No. 159

gradually in width to the posterior end of the body; posterior
margins straight, except that of the last which is angled;
edged with a fringe of short bristles. Legs short and stout,
gradually increasing in size from first to third; femora very
stout and flattish. Sterna of thoracic divisions large, plate-
like; the sides and posterior angles of first rounded, the
posterior margin broadly incised; sides of second rounded,
posterior margin broadly and deeply excised; third narrower,
angled, the posterior margin still more deeply concave.
Body everywhere clothed with a fine felt-like pubescence.
Edges of segments above and at sides with series of short
rigid spines. At the posterior end of the body is the usual
pair of tapering jointed appendages, characteristic of the
family. Respiratory organs in the form of simple tapering
white filaments arising at the bases of the legs, both above
and beneath.

Color brown, eyes black; obscure dusky markings on
first segment of the thorax; second, with three elongate -
dusky dots; third with three similar dots, the median longest,
all concealed by the overlapping second tergum.

ARACHNIDA (MITES, ETC.).

Members of this group of animals could be found about
the edges of the streams at any time, but there were none
that attracted special attention because of any apparent
relation to the object of my investigations, except jiggers,
chigoes, or harvest mites. These microscopic mites were
common about the streams in the vicinity of Pineville in
August, and are the cause of a good deal of annoyance
during the summer to those who go much among blackberry
bushes and other shrubbery along the banks of the streams.
Berry pickers are especially liable to attack. But the mites
attack by preference the covered parts of the skin, and gen-
erally those regions upon which the clothing presses most
closely, as about the waist and under socks and stockings.
In the case of men I know from experience that jiggers
sometimes manage to get under the tongues of shoes and
cause red mounds on the upper surface of the feet.

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 61

The mites are the young of red species belonging to the
genus Trombidium. They enter the skin to complete their
development, but appear to be unable to do this on human
beings. Their habit of making the attempt seems to be
one of nature’s mistakes, for all of those entering the human
skin die there. Women and children often suffer -greatly
from the attacks, probably because of their more tender
skin. Men constantly living in the infested regions become
more or less completely immune, either because their skins
become tough and thick, or because they do not from long
exposure to the attacks become inflamed by the presence of
the imbedded mites. The fact of importance, however,
from the point of view here taken is that the mites do not
attack a person subsequent to an attack upon another, and
hence cannot well be concerned in carrying skin diseases
from ill to well.

Clearing away close-growing vegetation by mowing, or
by fire, is a good way to get rid of them about premises.

PROTOZOA.

The microscopic unicellular organisms of this sort, were,
of course, common in all the waters. Water taken from the
river and brought to Lexington in jars was found to contain
large numbers of several species. A large ciliate species in
a general way resembling Paramcecium, was extremely

Fic. 24.—Hind tarsus of the water strider, Rhagavelia obesa, with expanded oar, and’a
cluster of stalked Protozoans attached, Greatly magnified, as seen under’ the
microscope,

62 Bulletin No. 159

common, and so large that it could be seen with the naked
eye by holding a jar up to the light. A stalked species was
observed attached to the foot of one of the bugs known as
water striders and is represented in one of my figures
(Fig. 24).

CRUSTACEA (CRAWFISHES, ETC.).

The best known crustacean of the fresh waters of this
country are known everywhere as crawfishes, sometimes
simply as craws, and among college men, as crayfishes, this
British word having been imported with laboratory manuals.
All of the species of the Eastern United States belong to the
genus Cambarus, of which there are about sixty known,
eleven of them, possibly a few more, occurring in Kentucky.
They are all much alike in general structure, being provided
with a pair of strong forceps, on the forward pair of walk-
ing legs, and at the hind end of the body with a fin com-
posed partly of the flattened last segment and partly of the
hindmost expanded and branched appendages. With this
caudal fin they swim swiftly backward, as everybody knows,
a method of progression with the advantage of keeping the
strong claws and eyes directed toward pursuing enemies,
but with some disadvantages also, as when one of them
Swims thus into the mouth of a black bass. They are in
fact excellent fish bait. They are common in the streams
about Pineville, and though my attention was concentrated
on the search for Simulium, two species of crawfish, Cam-
barus bartoni and C. putnami were collected in the Cumber-
land River, and a third, apparently C. girardianus, was col-
lected in the rapids near the Roark cottage at Cary.

The crawfishes are of special interest as inhabitants of
these waters because of their value for fish food. But their
great abundance in situations frequented by Simulium may
give them an important relation to the welfare of the latter.
Asa rule, I believe they are more vegetarian than predatory,
but while feeding upon plants at all times, some of them un-
doubtedly seize and devour animals coming within their
reach, when prowling about under rocks, and they are

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 63

known when in confinement to eat one another if other food
is not available.

In addition to the crawfishes, several species of small
flat crustaceans belonging to the group Isopoda were now
and then encountered in the streams. One of the most in-
teresting was the blind crustacean (Cecidotea stygia) taken
in October from a spring-fed stream flowing into Straight
Creek near Cary. It is a common species throughout East-
ern Kentucky. In addition to this Isopod a few specimens
of an eyed species of Asellus were obtained under rocks at
the edge of Cumberland River. So far as known to me our
species of this group are vegetable feeders.

BRYOZOA OR POLYZOA (MOSS ANIMALS).

Water mains in cities sometimes become infested with a
singular small animal growing associated in groups and
forming branching colonies attached to the inner surfaces
of the pipes. At times these growths become so numerous
as to offer a serious hindrance to the flow of water, and
their decay at certain seasons pollutes water supplies so as
to be a source of danger to health. One of these branching
growths was common in the swiftest water of Cumberland
River and Straight Creek. When rocks lying in the water
were turned over, extensive and often rather pretty patches
were revealed closely attached to the under surfaces, so
closely in fact that they were liable to be broken into small
fragments by attempts to remove them. At the extremity
of each branch is an opening through which an individual
may protrude its beautifully tentacled forward extremity.
The same species has been repeatedly collected by me in
rocky streams at Lexington. The food consists of micro-
scopic plants and animals.

The winter is passed in the egg stage and at this season
the singular winter eggs (statoblasts) may be collected from
water mains and streams. Animals of this group are much
more common in fresh waters of all sorts than is generally
supposed. _ The reason they are not recognized for what
they are is because of their plant-like appearance. They

64 Bulletin No. 159

are true animals of an ancient type, being better repre-
sented as fossils than as recent species.

The presence of Bryozoa in water pipes may be determined
by securing a fine sieve, or piece of muslin, over a tap
and allowing the water to flow through it for an hour or two.
In the winter brown tubular fragments of the enclosing test
or shell of the organisms may be thus collected in quantities
and with them the winter eggs. The latter are very singu-
lar and characteristic, being oval, flattish, the surface gran-
ular under the microscope, the color of the outlying regions
pale brown, and a round central region, the egg proper, of a
deep umber-brown. The length of these eggs or buds is
about .35 mm; the diameter 0.24 mm.

VERMES (TRUE WORMS).

No worms of special interest were collected, but on the
roots of plants growing on the edge of Cumberland River in
the gap of the Pine Mountain, were noted small knots or
nodules somewhat like the bacterial nodules of clovers and
other leguminous plants. These knots were recognized as
the work of a small thread worm, and on subsequent exami-
nation with the microscope the eggs and young of the worm
were found in the plant tissue. It is possible that this is the
root-knot worm, AHeterodera radicicola, which is so de-
structive to cultivated plants of different sorts in the South
Atlantic states. If so, it would appear to be making its way
northward with pellagra along the Cumberland River. This
worm is parastic only on plants. The plant on which the
knots occurred could not be identified positively because of
its having been browsed by stock, leaving only the stubble
and roots in the river’s edge.

MOLLUSCA (SNAILS AND CLAMS).

These animals are scavengers and vegetarians. One
small snail (Goniobasis brevispira) with an elongate spiral
shell was constantly present about and on the rocks in all of
the streams, and in Cumberland River could often be fol-
lowed for some distance by a trail left behind it, the surface

Fig. 25.—Larva of Orthocladius sp. (No. 3) from Left Fork of Straight Creek, Cary, Ky. x 22.

Fig. 26.—Larva of Ablabesmya (No. 4) Left Fork of Straight Creek, Cary, Ky. x 21.

Fig, 27.—Fly Larva (undetermined) from Left Fork of Straight Creek, with Simulium larve., x 20,

1
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Fig. 28.—Pupa of preceding species (Fig
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Fig. 29.—Tarsal claw of fore-leg adult female Fig. 31.—Larva of gad fly from Left Fork of
yellow fever mosquito. Straight Creek, near Roark Cottage. x 4%.

Fig. 30.—Egg of yellow fever mosquito greatly magnified. x 100.

s

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sal view of female yellow fever mo

Fig. 33.—Dor

Fig. 34.—Crane fly larva x §% (family Tipulidae) from Left Fork of Straight Creek.

hind end of body magnified to show appendages.

Lower figure shows

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Fig 36.—Whirligig beetle (ineutes discolor) from the creeks and rivers, x 4,

Fig. 37.--Spider beetle, Dryops litho- Fig. 38.—Spider beetle, Ancyronyx
Philus. x 8. vartegatus. XII,

Fig. 39.—Case Hy No. 1. x 6%. Disc closing case shown more enlarged at 4.

Fig. 4o.—Case fly No. 2, x5. Discs closing case when pupa is formed shown at A and B,
more highly magnified.

’

Fig. 41.—Helicopsyche sp. (No. 3.) a, larva removed from case x 11% (delicate respiratory filaments
not shown); 4, dorsal view of head; c, ventral view of head.

Fig. 42.--Spiral case of larva shown under figure 41. x 7%.

Fig. 43.—Larva of Hydropsyche sp. a common species in all the streams,
living among gravel under rocks. x 17.

Fig. 44.—Dragon fly larva, Left Fork Straight Creek. x 4%.

Fig. 45.—Damsel fly larva (Calopteryx maculata) Clear Creek, Pineville. xq.

Fig. 46.—May fly larva (No. 2) common under stones in all the streams. x 4.

Fig. 47.—A common stone-ty larva (No.1) in the
creeks and rivers. X 4.

Fig. 48.—An undetermined stone-fly larva (No. 3) from spring-fed rill flowing
into Straight Greek, near Cary,Ky. x 8.

oni

Fig. 49.—Colony of a Polyzoan, Plumatella sp. as it grows on the under sides of rocks
in Cumberland River and other Kentucky streams. x 2.

Fig. So.—Statoblast or winter bud of the fresh water polyzoan Plumatella. x 120.

From Benson Creek, Frankfort, Ky.,Sep. 14.

Cees eS

=

aoe

<etebete

Pm

4

Fig. §1.—A few individuals with tentacles e

xpanded of a species of polyzoan from

Greatly magnified.

a pond at Lexington,

Fig. 52.—Goniobosis brevispira, the commonest snail of Cumberland River

and Straight Creek. xX 4.

Fig. 54.—Plauorbis bicarinatus, from Straight

Fig. 53.—Physa sayz, from Straight
Creek. xX 4.

Creek. X 4.

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B. kernels twice enlarged, bearing black fruiting
from Lexington. C,an ear with scat-
| Trichothecitum roseum). A and C re-

Fig 57.—A,an ear of corn destroyed by
Walker, of Christian County.
bodies (pycnidia) of D. zee about the germs,
ing kernels aftected with the pink fungus
duced in size; B, x 2.

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a

Fig. 58.—Ears of corn from Lexington, damaged by the fungus Diplodia zee, the basal

parts and scattered kernels (as at A) killed and embrowned by the attack, the rest
of the kernels appearing sound. A more dangerous condition than when the ears
are completely invaded and destroyed, as at A, Fig. 57. Natural size.

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Fig. 65.—Two of the cases represented in Fig. 64, not so much reduced. The skin lesions

are best shown on the leg of the left figure.

Localities 1n which Pellagra is Prevalent. 65

having been cleared along the line of travel of its coating of
algz and slime. This coating of the rocks was everywhere
present, and seems to furnish food to a host of microscopic
animals, and some larger ones, including some of the insects.
A large percentage of it consists of algz and protozoa, and
grazing animals, such as the snails, find it nutritious forage
easily obtained. Several other species of snails (Physa sayi
and Planorbis bicarinatus among them) were collected, and
a small elongate clam. The collection, however, gives a
wholly inadequate idea of the molluscan fauna of the
streams. The material collected was merely picked up inci-
dentally and because it chanced to catch my attention when
searching for other things.

The shells mentioned were identified by Drs. Pilsbry
and Sterki.

FISHES.

The community of insects and other animals, of which
Simulium larvee form a part, inhabiting the rapids of our
mountain streams, is relatively free from the attacks of the
larger fishes. Such fishes cannot follow them here. Frogs
and water birds, also, have little chance to get them, hidden
as they are in narrow spaces among the rocks and generally
clinging to the under surfaces. Even the larger carnivorous
beetles and bugs, such as Dytiscus and Belostoma, cannot
maintain themselves in the rapids, and the small species
suited to the peculiar situation are thus here as nowhere
else in our waters free from their attacks. A single family
of fishes, however, contains members that have been driven
like the insects in the struggle for existence to these same
waters, and has become adapted to the peculiar conditions
here prevailing. The sand darters (Etheostomatidz) are
very small often brightly colored fishes, the largest reaching
a length of six inches or thereabouts, that habitually lurk in
shallow running waters, many of them under rocks in the
swiftest streams. They are relatively slender, often with
pointed snouts, and naked napes, the scales being gone as if
rubbed away by probing under stones for shelter and food.

66 Bulletin No. 159

Though small, they are quick, strong swimmers, the pectoral
fins especially being relatively large. When uncovered they
dart at once under another rock, and are thus not very easy
to observe and capture. Indeed they are not often seen
excepting by collectors of fishes, and are all but unknown to
anglers. When by accident brought to the notice of the
latter they are generally regarded as the young of wall-eyed
pike and other large game fishes which they somewhat
resemble.

These diminutive fishes can pursue the insects living in
rapids wherever they may go, and being exclusively carni-
vorous must have a decided regulative effect on the numbers
of insects inhabiting the rapids. The species collected at
Cary in Straight Creek in October is Etheostoma obeyense,
originally described from small tributaries of the Cumber-
land River in Whitley and Clinton counties. The stomach
of an example captured with a small dip net in a rapid in
which Simulium occurred contained an almost perfect May-
fly larva.

Etheostoma obeyense.—Length 1.36 inches; depth 5.2
in length. Eye a trifle longer than snout. Cheeks, oper-
cles, and nape, naked. Lateral line with 46 scales, 25
to 26 of the anterior ones with tubes. Spinous dorsal mod- .
erately low, with 8 spines; soft dorsal with 11 rays. Ventral,
with two spines and seven rays. Color pale olivaceous with
a series of dusky blotches along the back and another of
small dots along the lateral line. Head with a dusky bar
from the eye to the tip of the snout, and a faint vertical bar
ventral to the eye. Head dusky above, pallid below, min-
utely specked with black. Spinous dorsal dusky edged.
Soft dorsal barred with dusky. Caudal with six bars of
dusky, the anterior partly on the extremity of the caudal
peduncle.

I do not know any other fish of our waters very likely to |
be mistaken for this, though no less than eighteen members ©
of its family occur in the Cumberland River and its small
tributaries in this part of Kentucky. The above species is
highly characteristic of the locality.

Laoclities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 67

The game fishes and the small competitors of the sand
darters adapted to the quieter and deeper parts of streams
appear to be the barrier which keeps the sand darters pretty
closely confined to the more rapid and shallow parts of the
Cumberland. Fifty-four species of fishes in addition to the
darters are known to inhabit the headwaters of the Cumber-
land, giving a total of seventy-two. The number will be
increased, I have no doubt, with careful collecting.

AMPHIBIANS.

The common spring frog, a large, olive, obscurely
marked species, is very common in the small creeks empty-
ing into the Cumberland in the vicinity of Pineville. The
adults were not seen, but the large slippery tadpoles, some
of them with the legs of considerable size, occurred in num-
bers in the shallows at the edges of the creeks, and attracted
attention by the disturbance they made in retreating to
deeper water. They were easily captured because of their
lack of alertness. An example is just about three inches
long (76 mm.), the color olive brown, minutely dotted on
the head and upper part of the sides with black. The mouth
is small, inferior, with several lines of black filaments
backed by papillz at the sides and behind. The tail is broad
and lanceolate, constituting a very-effective means of pro-
pulsion.

These larvze pass the winter in the water, they were
very common during my first visit to the streams in August
and September. In October they were not seen, having
retreated from the shallows for hibernation. The abundance
of this animal renders it an important feature of the life of
the waters, and no doubt its presence is felt by other organ-
isms in many ways. ‘The capacious body cavity of the tad-
poles is filled with the slender, closely coiled intestine; it is
coiled in several horizontal layers, one above the other,
looking very much like a small red rubber hose. A larva
before me, taken August 31, 1911, from Straight Creek,
measured two and five-eights inch (2.5 inch) in length,
while its uncoiled digestive tube measures a little over

68 Bulletin No. 159

twenty-one inches. The food as seen under the microscope
consists of the slimy ooze which collects in summer on the
bottom and over objects in the water. It contains vast
numbers of microscopic plants known as diatoms, of des-
mids, and of the rod-shaped Oscillaria, of numerous pro-
tozoans, and of granular matter, vegetable and animal, in
process of decomposition. ;

The adult frog is one of our largest American species,
next in size to the bull frog and a good deal like it. The
bull frog, however, prefers swamps, and is common in bot-
tom lands along the Mississippi River in the West. The
spring frog frequents springs and spring-fed streams. It
may always be distinguished by the incurved edges of the
webs of the hind feet and the presence of a glandular fold
along the sides of its body. An example of the adult caught
some years ago in Edmonson County near Mammoth Cave
had fed on water beetles.

VEGETATION IN AND ABOUT THE STREAMS.

A rust-brown material, coating objects in the streams,
looked at first like iron and I thought might result from the
washings of mines and heaps of slaty material thrown out of
them. It proved when examined with the microscope to be
a filamentous alga, and was composed of fiber-like strands
becoming smaller and smaller as they divided. I judge they
are denuded strands of Batrachospermum. They were not
in good condition for examination when I reached home.

Algee were of course common in the waters, on rocks
and wood. With diatoms and desmids, both of which were
numerous, they constitute the most important feature of the
aquatic vegetable life of these waters.

But one strictly aquatic plant of the higher groups was
observed: A slender species of Nitella was collected in
August from the Cumberland.

The banks of all the streams are fringed more or less
closely with shrubs and trees. Without giving them any-

Localities an which Pellagra is Prevalent. 69

thing like close attention, I noted the following while work-
ing along the banks at different times.

Scrub Pine (Pinus virginiana). Common on slopes.

Yellow Pine (Pinus echinata). Well up on slopes along
the Cumberland at Wasioto.

Willow (Salix sp. )

Butternut (Juglans cinerea).

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra).

Shell-bark Hickory (Carya ovata).

Iron Wood (Carpinus caroliniana).

Sweet Birch (Betula lenta).

River Birch (Betula nigra). Common.

Alder (Alnus sp. )

Beech (Fagus grandifolia).

Chestnut (Castanea dentata). Common.

Postoak (Quercus stellata).

Black Oak (Q. velutina).

Spanish Oak (Q. falcata).

Rock Elm (Ulmus racemosa).

Slippery Elm (Ulmus fulva).

Winged Elm (Ulmus alata).

Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis).

Mulberry (Morus rubra).

Cucumber Tree (Magnolia acuminata).

Umbrella Tree, Eklwood (Magnolia tripetala). Common.

Great-leaved Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla).

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Common.

Papaw (Asimina triloba). Common.

Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). Occasional.

Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis).

Red Haw (Cratzgus sp. )

Blackberry (Rubus sp.) Common.

Red Bud (Cercis canadensis).

Black Locust (Robinia pseudacacia).

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus glandulosus).

Dwarf Sumach (Rhus copallina).

Holly (lex opaca).

Dahoon Holly (Ilex cassine).

70 Bulletin No. 159

Strawberry Bush (Huonymus americanus).

Sugar Maple (Acer saccharwm).

Red Maple (Acer rubrum).

Box Elder (Acer negundo).

Sweet Buckeye (Aesculus octandra).

Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundifolia). Corbin, Horse
Creek.

Frost Grape (Vitis sp. )

Stewartia pentagyna. Clear Creek.

Dogwood (Cornus florida) ).

Kinnikinnik (Cornus amomum).

Great Laurel (Rhododendron maximum).

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia).

Sorrel Tree (Oxydendrum arboreum).

Checkerberry (Gaultheria procumbens).

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis).

The woody growth of all sorts is being cleared away
rapidly, and merchantable timber will not last many years
longer. Itis important on many accounts that the State
bestir itself soon to the end that its young forest growth
may not also be destroyed.

BACTERIA.

I did not take a compound microscope with me, and so
could do little with the microscopic organisms. No doubt
the waters would furnish a rich field of study in this line.
The suggestion sometimes made that something of this sort
in drinking water is responsible for pellagra led me to look
at springs used by pellagrins with some interest. At the
Roark cottage at Cary the surface of the ground sloped
toward the creek, and at the bottom of this slope a hundred
feet from the house and perhaps twenty-five from the edge
of Straight Creek is the spring. It is badly located with
reference to the house, and the flow from it is sluggish.
From its situation and character one would expect people
using it to suffer from bowel troubles as the very least of
its ill effects. A sample of this water was taken October 23,
in a sterile bottle, and brought to Lexington with me. The

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. Vis

results of tests made from it in the laboratory are given
below, and confirm the impression received from an ex-
amination of the spring itself. Such water may not have
anything to do with pellagra, yet pellagrins more than others
should avoid any possible evil that may lurk in bad drinking
water.

Sample No. 1161.—At twenty-four hours it gave 30,600
colonies of bacteria per cubic centimeter; at forty-eight
hours it gave 41,000 colonies per cubic centimeter. The
dextrose fermentation test gave 35 per cent. gas at the end
of the first day; 67 per cent. at the end of the second. The
litmus-lactose, acid-lactose, neutral red and acid agar tests
each gave positive results. The lactose-bile test gave 25 per
cent. gas.

The water of the streams is of course badly polluted
with sewage in and below towns. In the mining camps
practically all sewage is received sooner or later by the small
creeks. In summer especially when the flow is not great
the water must be exceedingly dangerous for drinking.
Certainly it ought always to be boiled before using it for
this purpose.

THE CONDITION OF THE CORN CROP ALONG THE STREAMS.

Corn grows well on the bottom lands along the mountain
streams of Bell and adjoining counties. It appeared to me
quite as good as that grown elsewhere in the State. Like
corn grown in other parts of Kentucky, it was in some fields
badly infested with the corn worm (Chloridea obsoleta). The
injury done by the insect, even when slight, is generally
followed by an invasion of molds, and thus often more harm
results from the opening it makes in the husks than from
the amount of grain it destroys. Corn brought home with
me showed on some of the kernels at the tip of an eara
pink mold, and on the husks dusky blotches, appearing on
the inner surface as brown spots with the tissues somewhat
elevated and disturbed. The pink fungus appears to be the
same as one observed on corn at Lexington and elsewhere
in Kentucky. It gets to the kernels only by way of burrows

G2, Bulletin No. 159

made by the corn worm, and would thus probably be con-
trolled by preventing the injuries of the insect.

The only other fungus observed on this corn is a dull
green mold which with age becomes brownish-black. Cul-
tures were made from this corn October 19, 1911, on Soy
bean agar. A Fusarium was obtained in a dense cottony
white growth, completely covering the slanted surface and
bearing numerous conidia. The pink fungus of this corn
did not grow, but has been isolated from corn received
since from the same locality. The green fungus grew
readily in gelatine and is a species of Aspergillus; I think
it only attacks kernels that have been injured by other
agencies. It is generally present on the gnawed kernels
left by the corn worm at the upper end of the ear.

Corn sent me from London, Ky., December 13, 1911, by
Mr. B. F. Johnson, is in about the same condition as that
observed earlier at Corbin and brought home with me. The
injury by the corn worm, though slight, is evident at the
tips of every one of the six ears in the lot, and accompanying
it is the pink growth on some of the kernels. The cobs of
these ears are mostly sound, though one.is affected with
some fungus and shows a purple discoloration about the
margins of the pithy center. Some kernels on three of
these ears have germinated, and indicate that the corn was
too damp at some time, probably after being shocked.

Another lot of six ears sent me December 14, 1911, by
O. W. Stamper, of Corbin, shows the same prevalence of
slight injury by the corn worm, every one of the six being
affected. Three of them have sound cobs, but show scattered
pink kernels, sometimes broken and crumbling.

A large ear of this lot with thin, sharp-edged seeds
shows scattered brown discolored kernels, and when broken
a purple discoloration extending to the center of the cob.
I take this to be the work of a Fusarium, which in cultures
on sterile rice produces a cottony growth and a purple dis-
coloration like that seen in the cobs. It appears to be
associated with the pink fungus and also with Diplodia in
some samples.

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. We

The fifth and sixth ears received with the above and
still in their husks are utterly destroyed by the fungus
Diplodia zex, the kernels being brown and dead, the cobs
spongy and brown from base to tip, in one with a whitish
mycelium between the husks and a sooty discoloration on
their outer surfaces near the tip. Both are injured by the
corn worm, but the Diplodia evidently came up from the
shank.

These sample give a good idea of the condition of moldy
corn everywhere in Kentucky. Since pellagra has been
under discussion the writer has examined such corn from
a good many counties representing all parts of the State.
From the mountain section samples have been examined
from Letcher, Knott, Laurel, Bell, Wayne and Whitley.
Other samples represent the central and western sections,
coming, some of them from Fayette, Kenton, Jefferson,
Warren, Taylor, McCracken and Fulton. They have not
been fully studied, but examinations and cultures indicate
the general distribution in Kentucky, from Letcher County
to Fulton, of the fungus Diplodia zex, of the pink fungus
and of a Fusarium producing a white cottony growth, and
of the green Aspergillus. The distribution of the corn ear
worm coincides with that of the latter fungus and with that
of the pink mold, these fungi being most common where the
worm does its greatest mischief. Accordingly, Jefferson
County, because of the large quantities of early table corn
grown there, is badly infested with both worms and molds.
The Diplodia zex is not dependent on the openings made
by the worm, generally invading ears by way of the shank.
Its distribution is a little more general and its presence
more constant on corn of all sorts, as a result.

For a number of years the writer has made a point of
inspecting the exhibits of corn at local and state fairs, both
with reference to the adaptability of varieties and with
regard to their susceptibility to disease. Corn infested with
the pink mold, and sometimes with Diplodia, has at times
been seen in these exhibits, and in some instances judges
have assigned the blue ribbon, and even the purple ribbon,

7h Bulletin No. 159

to entries on which the fungi were apparent. The time is
coming, I believe, wnen such corn will be barred from
exhibits, and no good corn breeder will think of showing
diseased corn, any more than a breeder of Jersey cattle
would think of competing for premiums with animals
affected with tuberculosis. Seed corn is worth thinking
about by farmers and seed corn men as one of the
agencies by which molds may be scattered about the State.

Seed infested with molds, even slightly, should not
be planted. Asa precaution against introducing the molds
it may be wel! to treat suspected corn with formalin or blue
stone in the manner customary for wheat.

Judging from statements coming to me from farmers |
should think the percentage of loss this year to the crop
alone would not fall below ten per cent., which means a loss
to the State of about 10,000,000 bushels. Some farmers
would, I have no doubt, place the percentage of loss much
higher. One of my correspondents asserts that fifty per
cent. of the crop is moldy in his county this year.

THE EFFECT OF MOLDY CORN ON STOCK.

That some of these fungi are capable of injuring stock
is evident from complaints reaching the Station every year,
and coming from farmers who have suffered loss of horses,
cattle, hogs, or poultry. Correspondents writing this Fall
have asserted that numerous cases of blind staggers have
resulted from feeding such corn. Corn being fed to these
animals have in some cases reached my hands, and bore the
pink fungus and the Aspergillus. An ear of this sort has
recently been handed me by Dr. Graham of the Station and
was received by him from Shelby county, where stock has
been dying. Diplodia fed to mice has been found to cause
paralysis and ultimate death. Corn smut fed to animals
in large quantities has been shown, on the contrary, to
have no ill effect. Some recent claims have been put
forward with reference to the effect of corn fungi on
poultry, and it has been asserted that a disease presenting
some of the symptoms of pellagra has been induced ex-

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 165)

perimentally in fowls by feeding certain organisms culti-
vated on ground maize. Dr. C. C. Bass, for example,
claims in the Southern Medical Journal for August, 1911,
that a disease of chickens regarded by the Italians as
pellagra is produced by feeding them moldy corn. The
symptoms appear in summer, and especially in the young, .
which shed their feathers, and practically all die with blis-
tered backs if turned out in the sun. Again, in the Ameri-
ean Medical Journal for November 18, 1911, the same writer
claims to have himself produced in poultry a disease resem-
bling pellagra, by feeding spoiled maize inoculated with a
‘‘specific Bacterium. ”’

But while Dr. Bass may prove to be on the right track,
it is well to note that physicians who have studied the sub-
ject, hold widely divergent opinions as to the relation of
corn to pellagra*, and some very emphatic statements have
been published with reference to several different agencies,
not all of which can have to do with the disease.

Treatment for Corn Mold.— This bulletin is in the nature
of a preliminary survey, and the corn ear fungi must be
dealt with briefly, the publication of some details and results
of cultures being reserved for a later date. But it may be
said that the molding of corn is greatly encouraged by con-
ditions over which the farmer has some control.

In the first place the fungus Diplodia remains in the
fields and continues developing there in the grain and stalks
long after the crop is cut. Old stalks lying about fields may
continue to produce the spores of the fungus for several
seasons, and thus infect growing crops. Where mold is
prevalent, and especially after a season favorable to mold,
it is important to get the crop, stalks and all, off the land
and disposed of as soon as practicable. The corn should be
husked at once when mature and put in a dry cool crib. The
fodder should be either fed or burned.

* In an article entitled ‘‘Pellagra, Its Etiology, “Pathology. Diagnosis and Treatment”
written by Dr. C. W. G. Rohrer, Medical Assistant to the State Board of Health, of
Maryiand, and published in the Transactions of the National Conference on pellagra, in
1910, it is positively stated that the disease is due to the fungus Aspergillus fel wus,
and that the author has observed this fungus growing on corn, peas, beans and buck
wheat, when ‘“‘beaten to the ground by heavy rains.

76 Bulletin No. 159

When kernels of corn are completely invaded by mold
the germ is killed, and common sense will teach that such
corn is not to be planted. But it sometimes happens that
ears bear only a little of the fungi and these are the ones
most likely to be fed, or used for planting. As suggested
under another head moldy corn should be avoided as far as
practicable for such purposes, and when suspected of bear-
ing the fungi, seed corn may well be treated with formalin,
or bluestone, as a precaution against conveying mold fungi
to the corn field.

Judges of corn exhibits can help to rid the State of these
molds by discouraging the exhibition of diseased corn.

Unfortunately it is not possible to say at present
whether or not the spores remain alive in manure. The
spores of the smut fungus of corn are, it will be remem-
bered, capable of living in manure, and are believed to be
distributed thus to corn fields. But in the absence of de-
finite experimental data with reference to the ear molds, it
would be well to use manure from moldy corn fodder only
on land planted in some other crop than corn.

And because of the disposition of the fungus to remain
alive in the fields and on the corn stalks, it is always best to
practice rotation of corn with other crops not subject to
injury.

The fungus Diplodia is believed to be restricted to
maize. It is widely scattered in the United States, and
occurs in Italy where pellagra is prevalent. Of the distri-
bution of the species of Fusarium it is impossible to speak
positively at present, though they are known to be common
on corn over a large part, and perhaps all, of our territory.

DR. SAMBON’S THEORY AS PRESENTED IN -
HIS PUBLISHED PAPERS.

Since writing the above I have had an opportunity to
see the articles published by Dr. Louis W. Sambon, in the
Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in the library of
the Surgeon General of the United States Army at Wash-

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. Vi

ington. I find that Dr. Sambon has weighed the evidence
for and against his idea with a good deal of care. He went
over the territory in Italy where pellagra is most prevalent,
studying the disease, and found Simulium larvee or pupee, in
the streams wherever he found pellagra. He states his
views in concise form as follows: (Vol. XIII. Sep. 16,
1910, p. 271.)

‘‘So far I have been able to establish :

(1) That pellagra is not due to the eating of maize,
either sound or deteriorated, as hitherto almost universally
believed.

(2) That it has a striking, peculiar and well defined
topographical distribution.

(3) That its endemic foci or ‘stations’ have remained
exactly the same in many places for at least a century.

(4) That its stations are closely associated with streams
of running water.

(5) That a minute blood-sucking fly of the genus
Simulium is, in all probability, the agent by which pellagra
is conveyed.”’

Dr. Sambon admits that he has made no experiments
testing his theory, but thinks the facts he has brought
together are sufficiently powerful as evidence to render it
almost a certainty.

After enumerating fully the various theories held in
Italy as to the origin of pellagra, Dr. Sambon declares that
there is no foundation for the belief that pellagra broke out
on the introduction of maize into Europe, and that the topo-
graphical distribution of pellagra does not coincide either
with the distribution of maize, its cultivation, or its con-
sumption; and, further, that all preventive means based on
the maize theory have failed.

Maize appears to have been used in Italy as early as
1554, by the records, and was certainly used in this country
much earlier, in fact the early explorers make frequent
mention of maize used as food by Indians, and often so
badly prepared as to be inedible to the white man. Samuel
de Champlain in his narrative of exploration written in 1618,

78 Bulletin No. 159

says, after describing different methods by which the
Indians prepare maize:

“They have another way of eating Indian corn. To
prepare it they take ears of it and put them in the water
under the mud, leaving them two or three months in this
state until they think it decayed. Then they take it out
and boil it with meat or fish; then eat it. They also roast
it and it is better so than boiled. There is nothing that
smells so bad as this corn when it comes out of the water
allimuddy.?. * = =

In addition to the evidence collected by Dr. Sambon,
showing the presence of species of Simulium wherever
pellagra occurs, he gives several other reasons for believing
the disease to be insect borne. In the first place, the alter-
nate periods of latency and activity in pellagra correspond
in a way with malaria produced by the protozoan parasite,
Plasmodium vivax, a parasite known to be conveyed by
mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. Its symptoms; course,
duration and characteristic lesions are, he says, like those
of parasitic diseases. ‘‘It is insect borne because not
directly contagious; because neither food nor water account
for its peculiar epidemiology.’’ It is limited to rural dis-
tricts only, he asserts, towns and villages almost invariably
escaping.

In Kentucky, it must be said, the disease is rural in
general, but puzzling instances are known to me of well-to-
do people becoming affected while living in the heart of a
city. Cases believed to have originated in asylums also
appear to contradict the sand fly theory. Yet it should in
fairness be added that the circumstances under which these
cases have appeared are not fully known, and more complete
knowledge of the disease at its inception in each case might
bring all of the apparent exceptions into agreement with
* the idea so well presented and supported by Dr. Sambon.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

In concluding, it is appropriate that acknowledgment
be made of courtesies extended to me by physicians at
Corbin, Pineville and Cary. To Doctor M. H. Steele and

Localities in which Pellagra is Prevalent. 79

Doctor Parker of Corbin; to Doctor J. G. Foley of Pineville,
and to Doctor J. H. Hendren, of Cary, I am indebted for
information as to cases of pellagra in their charge. Drs.
Steele and Hendren were so good as to accompany me to
points of special interest, at the cost to them, I felt sure, of
valuable time. Mr. Robert Asher, of Pineville, provided
me with photographs relative to one of the cases in charge
of Doctor Foley. To Doctor J. N. McCormack, Secretary of
the State Board of Health, I am indebted for addresses of
physicians having charge of cases, information which
proved of much value by saving time in locating places at
which observations and collections could most profitably be
made. Doctor F. H. Clark, of Lexington, has shown at all
times a keen interest in the matter, and has secured for me
a list of cases in the Eastern Kentucky Asylum. Each of
of these gentlemen has my sincere thanks for his kindness.

All drawings illustrating the bulletin are original, and
were made under my direction by Mr. Matthews of this
Division. Excepting those of the buffalo gnat and a few
others, they were made from material collected about Corbin
and Pineville. The photographs reproduced are also new,
and were made inpart-by Mr. Vaughn of the Division, and
in part by myself.

CORRIGENDA.

Page 17, first paragraph, for (0.056 inch) read (0.16 inch)
and add: greatest width, 1.6 mm. (0.064 inch); greatest depth,
1. 4mm. (0.056 inch).

Page 26, fourth paragraph, for columbateczensis read
columbxzensis.

—_—

LLL