THE INFINITE INSECT 



is a familiar sight in many months. By the river, 

 by the highway, in the city even, these columns 

 may be seen for hours moving up and down over 

 a chosen spot. But several afternoons lately, along 

 the lane at the fringe of the wood, the gnats have 

 danced in a long wavering line of columns. 



At three o'clock, in the mild sun, I stood at the 

 corner of this lane and looked into a blur of half a 

 mile of gnats rising and falling. This place has 

 no special attraction for gnats. What was going 

 on here was going on over a great part of England. 

 Hundreds of thousands of miles of gnats were rising 

 and falling in long ribbons or lines of columns all 

 over the country. More isolated companies, at the 

 same time, were rising and falling over grassy spots 

 in woods and shrubberies and gardens everywhere. 

 Myriads were moving over pasturage and commons. 

 To human calculation, the individuals that comprise 

 the gnat columns in a single English parish, on a 

 bright November day, are infinite. The recurring 

 decimal recurs not more than the gnat. We need 

 not go to starry spheres for the infinite. It lies at 

 the door, within the space of a few lanes and fields, 

 in the form of life and joy. What purpose, save 

 that of enjoyment, can be served by this filmy 

 column ? The vast majority of the dancers are 

 males. They are surely not feeding unless they 

 feed on a sunbeam they cannot be trying to attract 

 the favour of curious or admiring female gnats. 

 It is imaginable that by this kind of ecstatic rise and 

 fall in the sun the gnat perfects its life, and so, 



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