Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-02-28
The Paradise OF Insects.

torments which work their wicked will
on the bodies of the unfortunates en-
posed to their attacks. The .'sancudos,"
or small nd-flies, form by far the most
important section. In the villages, round
which the forest is cleared away for
some distance, the sancudos are gener
ally pretty quiet during the day, except
where darkness prevails; there they are
ever busy, and are a perfect plague
The triumphant note of sancudo which
has made his way under your curtains
is more annoying than even his bite;
and should you have been careless in
getting into bed, and been accompanied
by two or three of these blood suckers,
we will defy you to sleep until you have
exterminated them.
In the forest and on the river the SAN
cudos are always busy. Men sometimes
get into the vessels tops, and there COW
er themselves with sacks, notwithstand
ing the heat, rather than remain below
exposed to their attacks. Fortunately
they can not stand a current of air, and
SO when under way the vessel is COM
paratively free from them, but when at
anchor these pests are something awful.
To get rid of them is next to impossible.
Creosote will keep them off, but the
remedy is as bad as the disease. White
wash viii drive them away, but when
dry its power ceases; and the only
thing to do is either to cover all exposed
parts of the body with black pigment a
Ia mode Indienne, or else to "grin and
bear it."
Scarcely less troublesome than the
sancudos are the mosquitoes, although
they have the negative merit of biting
only by day. They are minute Great
ures, not much larger than pins head;
they prefer the backs of the hands to
any other spots for their attacks. But,
unlike the sancudo, which, when I'M
disturbed, gorges himself until unable
to fly, and becomes an easy prey to
your avenging finger, the mosquito
never seems TO take too much to prevent
his escape on the slightest appearance
of dangar, being evidently just as wide
awake when full as when empty.
Everywhere in long grass turks the
moquim,na little red insect so small
Is to be almostimperceptible, but which
fastens on the legs, causing the most
intolerable itching. elti e-s i....
There is a fly which burrows in the
skin and deposits an egg. both in human
beings and animals. This produces
maggot, similar in shape to that of the
common blow-ily, but much larger,
probably analogous TO the Guinea-worm
Then there are g chigos, (" which bur
row mostly in the soles of the feet You
feel an intense itching, and on cxami-
nation find little thing like a pea just
under the epidermis: this j. the bag
containing the young chigos, which
must be carefully picked out with the
point OF q knife, and the cavity left
filled with tobacco ash.
Huge spiders abound, whose very APP
pearance inspires a wholesome dread of
Il nearer acquaintance, but which are
harmless enough if let alone. In fact,
on board the steamers, almost every
cabin is tenanted by one large. spider,
whose presence is tolerated on account
of his being deadly foe to cockroaches,
which abominable creatures swarm on
board. Sometimes he is not visible for
a fortnight or more at time; but he
leaves tokens of :. having been there
in the shape of the empty husks of
cockroaches, from which he has care
fully distracted the interior. These
spiders have the power of springing
upon their prey from a distance. and
some OF them are so large and powerful
as to kill and devour small birds ga =
In passing through the narrow forest
paths it is necessary to be on the look
out for the wood-ticks, which are very
difficult to get rid Of if once firmly at
tached; also for the huge black ants,
an inch, and a half in length, with
stings like a hornet's; and the sauba
ant, without sting, but armed with nip
pers like a pair of surgical bone-for-
caps, which are running about every