i;o THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



but unlike most others, the first and much the longest 

 portion is spent in the water. The female gnat selects 

 some quiet and sheltered piece of water, a stagnant pool 

 for preference, and lays her eggs upon its surface. In form 

 they may be compared to long small-bore bullets, pointed 

 at the upper end. They are placed closely together and 

 adhere lightly to each other, and when the tiny mass is 

 examined through a magnifying glass it presents the ap- 

 pearance of a honeycomb studded with tiny points. If no 

 accident befall it, the little raft floats until the young ones 

 are ready to take to the water ; then the lower ends of the 

 tiny tubes open and the larvae swim away. Their life in 

 the water resembles that of most other aqueous creatures. 

 They feed upon organisms even more diminutive than 

 themselves, and are the prey of the smaller water beetles 

 and tiny fish. The gnat larva obtains the animalculae on 

 which it feeds by means of two ciliated organs on the 

 head. These are in constant motion, and create a current 

 by which its food is drawn into its mouth. But, though 

 an inhabitant of the water, the gnat even in this stage is 

 obliged to breathe, and therefore frequently ascends close 

 to the surface, where it draws in the air through a little 

 tube situated at the apex of the body. 



At the end of about fifteen days this state of its existence 

 is completed, and it assumes the pupa state. It is now 

 doubled up, and somewhat rounded in form, but it is, never- 

 theless, still active ; it still breathes, drawing in the air by 

 two little tubes, situated now on the anterior part of the 

 body. When the perfect insect is formed inside the pupa 

 case, the air contained within the latter causes it to float 

 on the surface. The gnat breaks through the upper side 



