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The breeding areas of blood sucking midges within the
USSR have been studied by many scientists (1-5, 7, and 9-16).
Analysis of the data obtained (8) have illustrated that the
habitat of the midges is dictated by the water and temperature
factors. Within the forest zones the areas of breeding
of the midges are diffused. Within the Steppe Zones the breeding
areas of the insects are strictly localised and are found
in natural or man-made basins/pools. The number and existance
of midges depends on the nature of the river beds and the
hydraulic conditions of the rivers. The Donetzkij region,
where we carried out research, is situated in the Steppe
Zone. The station to station studies to determine the
breeding areas were carried out from 1969 to 1976 in floodplains
and along the river beds of the Severskij Donetz,
Kazennyj Toretz, Bakhmut, Gruzskij Elanchik, Kleban-Byk,
Sukhoj Toretz, Kalmius, within the interfluve (in the
Malinovka village), and on the shores of the Azove sea
within the limits of the Donetzkij region.

The larvae and pupae of midges were collected from
different biotopes. The specimens were placed in vessel
with water, carefully stirred and these pupae that came up
to the surface were then moved with the help of a small
brush into a smaller veasel. In the laboratory they were
then transferred into test tubes with damp cotton wool lining
the test tubes and retained there till the appearance of
imago. To collect the larvae of midges we employed the
method suggested by Kettle and Lawson (19), modified by
V.M. Glukhova (6, 8). The mature stage IV larvae were
kept in segregation, one from the other, in hour glasses
with a little water. The hour-glasses were placed in
Petri dishes the bottom of these dishes were first covered
with damp filter paper. The Petri dishes were checked
daily. After the pupae were formed the skin of the larvae
was preserved in 96% alcohol (and sometimes in formalin).

In order to obtain quantitative data of the pre-imago
phases we collected standard specimens along water lines
using a 10 x 5 cm aluminium frame and up to 2 cm deep.
All pupae were kept in test tubes with damp cotton till
the imago had appeared and the larvae were preserved in
96% alcohol. A total of 445 specimens were treated. We
collected 32904 larvae and 5539 pupae.

RESULTS OF ANALYSIS

The hydrological analysis of the Donetzkij region has
illustrated that the main focal point for breeding in mass