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To: Richnorth who wrote (84575)	4/19/2002 4:45:57 PM
From: E. Charters	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116759

Worst flies I ever saw were in southern Ontario in Georgian Bay. (Near a breeding swamp) Next worst was in a cedar-spruce swamp near Red Lake. Mosquitoes are nightime/evening insects. They breed in stagnant swamps. Blackflies are day time bush insects which breed in clear unpolluted running water. They won't enter a tent or closed space. Neither are seen in significant amounts more than ten yards from shore except in the evening. I believe that is why the Indian invented the birch-bark canoe. (If you observe an Indian in the bush sitting beside a white man, you will see that 80% fewer flies land on the Indian. They sometimes see that too. It could be a naturally selected defense in their environment. (Mosquitoes will bite an animal before a human, as their blood is richer. That is partly why moose will be driven mad by spring insects when men can wander the same bush with relative impunity. Immature moose can be killed by insects in the north, such as ticks and blackflies, as they prevent feeding behaviour by getting in their eyes and cause them to run to avoid the insects. Eventually exhaustion overcomes them.) If you go down the highway on a motorcycle, you will see that flies are swarms every few miles or so, that correspond to water courses. If you want to avoid insects in the bush try walking so that you disturb the least plants. Walk into the wind and rest in low cool shady damp areas. Stay out of the bush after a rain. We have killed by DDT most of the birds that controlled insects such as the Eastern Cuckoo, a large bird that ate its weight in insects every day. (ref: Silent Spring, Rachel Carson) These birds have vanished from our land. Thus the Gypsy Moth now plagues our forests. By not accepting nature and fooling with its balance by such activities as spraying with 2-4D (Agent Orange, made famous by Cancer in Vietnam) we may be sowing the seeds of our own destruction. EC<:-}