234 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



and rise into the air, where new dangers await them in 

 the form of cobwebs and insectivorous birds, to say 

 nothing of human beings. 



V 7 e have now followed our gnat or mosquito through 

 a complete cycle of changes, and have thus seen that it 

 is essentially an insect not of the house but of the 

 pond, the marsh, and the swamp, whence it follows 

 that blook-sucking is a practice that can but occasionally 

 be indulged in, and it seems probable that great numbers 

 of gnats perish without ever tasting such food at all, 

 and that\in fact the habit is an acquired one, and not 

 really essential to their existence. If this be so, it is 

 all the more remarkable when taken in conjunction 

 with the extraordinary perfection of the blood-sucking 

 apparatus, and the problem of their economy is as 

 difficult to solve as that of fleas on the seashore far 

 from human habitations.. Gnats, however, seem to be 

 quite ready to drink the juices of flowers if they cannot 

 get blood, and several observers have chronicled their 

 fondness for honey. But still this will scarcely explain 

 the presence of needle-like piercers amongst the mouth 

 organs, since such instruments would not be necessary 

 to get at the nectar of flowers. 



In the days when every house had its water-butt, and 

 when stagnant ponds abounded on every side, often in 

 close proximity to human dwellings, the conditions were 

 so much the more favourable for the multiplication of 

 gnats; and wherever such conditions now obtain, the 

 insects are still likely to be both numerous and trouble- 

 some. But the extensive abolition of the water-butt, 

 the introduction of closed and indoor cisterns, and the 

 better drainage of the land, have all tended to throw 

 hindrances in the way of the Culicidce, and have helped 

 to reduce their numbers in our own country, whatever 



