Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/563

 GADSDEN There are about 40 European species, for a knowledge of whose habits and metamorphoses we are principally indebted to De Geer. The species which so torments cattle is the T. lo- vinus (Linn.), about an inch long; the thorax and abdomen are dark brown, the former with yellowish hair, and the latter with a reddish yellow cross band on the hinder edge of the segments, and bright yellow triangular spots; abdomen yellowish gray, with black triangular spots; thighs dark brown, and tibiae bright yellow. These insects appear about the end of June, and continue their attacks through summer ; the proboscis, though not very long, is armed with six very sharp needles, by which they can pierce the thickest hide. In the allied genus chrysops (Meigen), or golden- eyed gadflies, may be mentioned the C. ccecu- tiens (Meig.), about one third of an inch long, common in Europe in meadows and pasture lands, stinging both men and horses very se- verely ; the yellowish brown thorax is marked with three long black stripes ; wings white with blackish brown spots; abdomen yellowish. American species are C. ferrugatus (Fabr.), black, and C. mttatus (Wied.), striped black and yellow ; they are found in woods and thickets in July and August. The genus hcema- topota (Meig.) contains the troublesome gadfly- called cleg in Scotland ; this, the H. pluvialis (Meig.), is about the size of the common house fly ; the large eyes are greenish, with four un- dulating brown bands running through each of them ; the body is gray, with brownish cross stripes ; the wings gray, spotted with brown. It attacks man, cattle, and especially horses, in sultry weather just before rain; the wounds are painful at the time, but are not followed by any lasting burning or itching. The name of gadfly is also given to several species of oestrus, especially to that which deposits its eggs about the knees and sides of the horse, and which, conveyed into the stomach, constitute the disease known as bots. (See BOTS.) GADSDEN, a N. county of Florida, bordering on Georgia, bounded E. by the Ocklockonnee river and W. by the Appalachicola ; area, 700 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 9,802, of whom 6,038 were colored. It is traversed by the Jackson- ville, Pensacola, and Mobile railroad. It has an uneven surface and a fertile soil. The chief productions in 1870 were 145,165 bushels of Indian corn, 16,075 of oats, 40,930 of sweet potatoes, 3,258 bales of cotton, 118,799 Ibs. of tobacco, 32,785 of rice, 42,334 gallons of mo- lasses, and 60 hogsheads of sugar. There were 691 horses, 603 mules and asses, 7,550 cattle, and 7,360 swine. Capital, Quincy. GADSDEN, Christopher, an American statesman, born in Charleston, S. C., in 1724, died there, 28, 1805. His father having lost his large in play with Admiral Anson, the son engaged in mercantile business with such suc- recover it all by purchase. He was one of the boldest in denouncing British op- ion from the time of the stamp act, and is GADWALL 551 said to have been the first to speak of Ameri- can independence. He was a delegate to the stamp act congress, which assembled in New York in 1765, and to the first continental con- gress in 1774, in which he urged an immediate attack upon Gen. Gage at Boston; became senior colonel and afterward brigadier of three South Carolina regiments in 1775 ; was actively engaged at the siege of Charleston 4 in 1776 ; was one of the framers of the constitution of South Carolina, adopted in 1778 ; resigned his military commission in 1779 ; and as lieutenant governor of the state signed the capitulation when Charleston was taken by Sir Henry Clin- ton in 1780. Shortly after, in violation of the terms of capitulation, he was arrested with 77 other influential public men, hurried on board a prison ship, and conveyed to St. Au- gustine. He alone of the prisoners refused to enter into any engagements to secure a degree of freedom on parole, and was therefore incar- cerated for 42 weeks in the dungeon of the castle of St. Augustine. Being exchanged, ho was sent to Philadelphia, and after his return to Charleston, as member of the state legisla- ture, he opposed the confiscation of the prop- erty of loyalists. He was elected governor of the state in 1782, but declined the honor, preferring to retire to private life. GADWALL, a fresh-water or river duck of the subfamily anatina, and the genus chaulelasmus (Gray). In this genus the bill is as long as the head, the lamellae distinctly visible below its lower edge, and its color black; the head and neck brownish white, each feather spotted with dusky, and the top of the head generally with a reddish tinge ; lower neck, breast, back, Gadwall (Chaulelasmus streperus). 1. Male. 2. Female. and sides banded with narrow bars of black and white ; rump and tail coverts black ; greater wing coverts velvet black, middle chestnut, and speculum white with a black border. From its general color it is often called the gray duck. The length is about 22 in., the extent of wings