346 THE NEMOCERA. 



development of their maxillary palpi, which are long^ 

 composed of four or five joints^ and often partake of 

 the plumose character of the antennae. This Suborder 

 includes only a single tribe, to which, therefore, the 

 name of Nemocera may also be applied. 



No one who has walked on a summer evening in the 

 neighbourhood of water can very well have escaped 

 acquu'ing some practical knowledge of the proceed- 

 ings of the common Gnat {Culex ciliaris). The 

 female of this abundant insect, as is well known, has 

 a particular predilection for blood, and although, in 

 the absence of this favourite diet, she will condescend 

 to feed, like her partner, upon the nectar of flowers, 

 she rarely allows an opportunity to escape of making 

 a full meal upon the warm blood of man and other 

 animals. I need hardly tell the reader that the con- 

 sequences of this feasting are by no means so pleasant 

 to the animal attacked as we may presume them to be 

 to the Gnat, — the place bitten speedily becomes pain- 

 ftd, and in many cases large swellings are produced, 

 and remain for a whole day or even more. In many 

 countries, indeed, these insects abound to such an 

 extent as to become veritable plagues, and the well- 

 known Mosquitoes y which give so much trouble to the 

 inhabitants of India and other warm climates, are 

 merely different species of Gnats. 



Our British Gnats are only inferior to these pests 

 in number ; as far as their individual bloodthirstiness 

 and power of torment are concerned, they do not 

 in the least yield to their celebrated tropical rela- 

 tives the Mosquitoes, and the process by which they 

 obtain their coveted nom-ishment is exactly the same. 

 It is difficult to conceive a creature more admirably 

 adapted for its appointed w^ork of torment than the 



