3^4 



INSECTS. 



barely credible. Some are oviparous ; fome viviparous ; fome males, and 

 unite with the female ; or females, requiring the male j fome are of nei- 

 ther fex, yet produce young without afllftance. A gnat inclofed alone 

 in a glafs veffel, with air to keep it alive; fhall produce young, which 

 alfo, when feparated from each other, fliall be parents of a numerous pro* 

 geny, the young burfling from the body of their parents without pre- 

 vious impregnation. At the fixth generation this flops, the gnat no 

 longer produces from itfelf alone, but requires the male to beftow ano- 

 ther fuccefiion of ferundity. 



In America, where the waters ftagnate, and the climate is warm^ 

 gnats are produced in multitude of multitudes; the whole air filled 

 with clouds of all fizes, from fix inches long to minutenefs itfelfr The 

 mid-day fun is too powerful for them ; but during evening nothing can 

 lliield the wretched inhabitants from their attacks ; though millions are 

 deftroyed, millions more fucceed, in unceafing torrents. The native In- 

 dians, who anoint their bodies with oil, and have been ufed to their de- 

 predations, find them much lefs inconvenient than Europeans; theyfleep 

 covered with thoufands. If a candle be lighted in thefe places, a cloud 

 of infeds lights on the flame, and extinguifhcs itj fothat they are obliged 

 to keep their candles in glafs lanthorns. Nor is it a little extraordi- 

 nary that the fame multiplication of the gnat kind ihould occur in Lap- 

 land, where thofe gentlemen who went to meafure a polar degree were 

 extreme fufferers by heat and infeds: while thofe engaging in meafuring 

 an equatorial degree were periflied by (torms, fnows, and cold. 



Such are the ways of Nature, as exemplified in the tribes of infe61s. 

 We have feen other creatures transformed, but not fo often j nor after 

 equally apparent diflblution. Among fo numerous a tribe it is difficult 

 to form a jufl feledion, which may include all their various ways of ob- 

 taining life ; and perhaps fome may exift whofe transformations may be 

 yet more numerous and peculiar, their manners and properties more re- 

 markable and wonderful: for certainly thoufands are unknown to us in 

 countries where ftudy and learning have not penetrated, and of which our 

 information is extremely limited ; not to mention the difficulty of accu- 

 rate acquaintance with thofe more immediately fubjeft to our notice, 

 a'rifing not lefs from their modes of life, than from their unlikenefs in dif- 

 ferent ftates. 



WORMS 



