THE GNAT. 169 



cloud scarce more palpable than steam, and ever changing 

 in form, they rise and fall in constant motion, and it is 

 impossible to doubt that this action partakes, to some 

 extent, of the character of a dance. A faint, low hum 

 accompanies the motion, caused partly, perhaps, by the 

 beating of the innumerable gossamer wings, partly by the 

 whispered conversation or song from innumerable throats. 

 Naturalists have puzzled themselves in vain for any expla- 

 nation of the object of these dancings. The natural one, 

 that it is the outcome of a joyous and happy disposition, 

 an exercise expressive of pleasure and happiness, is too 

 simple to be received with approval by the scientific mind. 



Man does not so rejoice in his existence. He has not 

 such unbounded satisfaction in the companionship of multi- 

 tudes of his fellows, nor throughout all nature is there any 

 parallel to the great gatherings and dancings of the gnats. 

 Flies, indeed, do join in sportive chases and flights, but 

 these are engaged in by few individuals only. Flights of 

 starlings and some other gregarious birds approach more 

 nearly to the gnat assemblies, and are also frequently 

 marked by rhythmical fallings and risings ; but they are 

 comparatively short outbursts of playful joyousness, and 

 not comparable with 'the constant and prolonged dances in 

 which the gnat spends the greater portion of its existence 

 as a perfect insect. Well may the gnat be transparent, 

 for it is doubtful whether it takes any solid food from the 

 time of its emergence from its pupa case to that when, 

 its existence terminated, it drops lifeless on the surface of 

 a stream. It drinks, however, and a dewdrop is sufficient 

 to afford refreshment to thousands. 



The gnat's life, like that of most insects, is a dual one ; 



