72 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



nettles, in Copenhagen-fields, Islington. A similan' 

 deposition of eggs is made by several of the mothers 

 of the subsolitary caterpillars which live in the wood 

 of trees. Of this we had a good example in the 

 clear under-vving {JEgtria asiliformis), above a score 

 of the small black eggs of which we tbund deposited 

 in a scattered manner on the trunk of a single poplar 

 at Lee *. 



The most singular disposal of eggs with which we 

 are acquainted in the economy of insects is exem- 

 plified in the common gnat {Cule.v pipiena, Linn.). 

 It is admirably described by Reaumur, though it 

 seems first to have been discovered by Langallo, who 

 mentions it in a letter addressed to Redi, printed at 

 Florence in 1679 ; and by Alloa, who actually saw 

 the eggs laid, and afterwards sketched a figure of 

 them. Those who wish to witness this singular opera- 

 tion must repair before five or six o'clock in th€ 

 morning to a pond or a bucket of stagnant water 

 frequented by gnats ; when Reaumur went later in 

 the day he was always disappointed. 



The facts of this disposal of her eggs by the com- i 

 mon gnat are sufficiently curious to excite attention 

 to them ; and, therefore, it is not easily to be under-! 

 stood how the following erroneous and fanciful 

 account originated. *'The manner," says Goldsmith, 

 " in which the insect lays its eggs is particularly 

 curious ; after having laid the proper number on the 

 surface of the water, it surrounds- them with a kind 

 of unctuous matter, which prevents them from sink- 

 ing, but at the same time fastens them with a thread 

 to the bottom^ to prevent their floating away, at the 

 mercy of every breeze, from a place the warmth of 

 which is proper for their production, to any othei 

 where the water may be too cold, or the animals, its''^' 

 cuemies, too numerous. Thus the insects, in theiif 

 * J. R. 



