14 HISTORY OF 



imagine that the fly which lies within is lost, yet 

 in reality it is not so ; on the contrary, its being 

 covered up so close, is the means of its preserva- 

 tion. Thus it spends the winter in a warm house, 

 where every crack and cranny of the nut is well 

 stopped up, and lies buried as it were under a 

 heap of leaves, which preserves it from the injuries 

 of the weather. This apartment, however, though 

 so commodious a retreat in the winter, is a perfect 

 prison in the spring. The fly, roused out of its 

 lethargy by the first heats, breaks its way through, 

 and ranges where it pleases. A very small aper- 

 ture is sufficient, since at this time the fly is but a 

 diminutive creature. Besides, the ringlets where- 

 of its body is composed, dilate, and become pliant 

 in the passage. 



CHAPTER VIL 



OF THE GNAT AND TIPULA. 



THERE are two insects which entirely resemble 

 each other in their form, and yet widely differ in 

 their habits, manners, and propagation. Those 

 who have seen the Tipula, or Long-legs, and the 

 larger kind of Gnat, have most probably mistaken 

 the one for the other; they have often accused 

 the Tipula, a harmless insect, of depredations 

 made by the gnat, and the innocent have suffered 

 for the guilty. Indeed, the differences in their 

 form are so very minute, that it often requires the 



