buffalo gnat†

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

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a small, winged biting insect especially common in the northern woods, Simulium spp.

Quotations

1843

[Excessively annoyed by . . . buffalo gnats.]

1897

In fact the mosquito, "buffalo-gnat" and "bulldog" seemed to have prairie appetities, and every traveller across these plains knows what that means.