PREFACE 



We have undertaken to give an account of this 

 insect because we believe that its abundance nearly 

 all round the year, its transparency, and the ease 

 with Avhich it can be reared, render it peculiarly fit 

 for study by inland naturalists. Chironomus in its 

 various stages has a very special biological interest, 

 and we have thought that its inclusion in ordinary 

 teaching-courses would be facilitated by such a 

 description as is now^ offered. This insect has long- 

 been a favourite object with histologists, embryo- 

 logists, and others, but its many points of interest 

 had not been exhausted by our predecessors ; \^'e 

 are well aware that they have not been exhausted 

 by ourselves. 



It would be a real service to biology if we could 

 incite the members of naturalists' clubs and other 

 non-academic biologists to take up the study of 

 life-histories. The lists of species, which are now- 

 printed so freely, have no particular scientific value. 

 Meanwhile the life-histories of insects, which have 

 in the past yielded facts of the greatest biological 

 importance, are almost totally neglected. The great 



