138 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER VII 



by which time, though many continue in evidence through- 

 out tlie night, most of them have satisfied their needs, so 

 that there is a sort of hill in their activity till dawn, when 

 those that have failed to secure a breakfast reappear, in 

 vicious earnest to secure a supper. Once, however, is the 

 tropical sun above the horizon, and they may be seen 

 taking immediate measures to escape from the power of his 

 rays. 



The window-door of my last little Indian work-room was 

 closed by means of Mosquito netting stretched over the 

 frame, so that it was possible to use the microscope with it 

 open, without being tormented with flies ; and I was often 

 much diverted by watching the persistent efforts, not only of 

 Anopheles, but of all the other domestic species about, to get 

 out to feed in the evening, and to return to shelter in the 

 morning. Shelter, as we have seen, they must have during 

 daylight, and speaking generally, an observer who confined 

 his observations to those hours might report that no such 

 insects existed in the tropics, so sluggish are they during the 

 heat of the day and so cunningly do they hide themselves in 

 dark corners. During the rains, however, the Stegomyuc, 

 which are common at that season, may be seen flying about 

 such places as orchards, and will occasionally even venture 

 upon short flights across patches of sunshine. Within the 

 bungalow, too, they will often bite viciously, even in the 

 middle of the day ; but as they are rather field than domestic 

 in their habits, they give less trouble in this way than would 

 otherwise be the case. 



When settled on some surface, the position of these 

 insects is very characteristic. As a rule, they support them- 

 selves entirely on the four anterior legs, the hind pair not 

 being brought into requisition, but kept held up well above 

 them, so as to serve as extra feelers. During the active 

 hours of their existence they are kept slowly waving about 

 in the air, as if feeling for something ; but when quiescent, 

 though the hind legs are still rarely placed to ground, they 

 are kept quite still, so much so that I found little difliculty 

 in photographing the living insects, placed in the glass box 

 described in the first chapter, with even an entire minute's 



