DIPTEEA. 47 



Many species of gnat, known as mosquitoes, are to be found in 

 America. All travellers speak of the sufferings endured by a 

 stranger in that country, from the bites of these insects. One can 

 only preserve oneself from these cruel enemies during sleep by 

 hanging gauze, called a mosquito curtain, round the bed. Mos- 

 quito curtains are not only necessary in America. During the 

 hot season, in Spain, throughout the whole of Italy, and a part of 

 the south of France, it is necessary to hang these curtains round 

 the bed, if one wishes to obtain any sleep : it is also a necessary 

 precaution not to have a light in one's bedchamber, as the sight 

 of it at once attracts these dangerous companions, whose buzzing 

 and stinging prevent any possibility of repose during the whole 

 night. Such is our advice to people who travel in the above- 

 mentioned countries. 



The TipulidcB have a narrow, elongated abdomen, and long 

 and slight limbs. The head is round, and the eyes, which are 

 compound, are, especially in the males, very large. The wings, 

 which are long and narrow, are sometimes held wide apart, 

 sometimes horizontally, and sometimes bent so as to form, as it 

 were, a roof. The balancers are naked and elongated ; the abdomen 

 long, cylindrical, and often terminating in a club in the male, and 

 in a point in the female. The antennae, which are longer than 

 the head, are generally composed of from fourteen to sixteen 

 joints, and are sometimes in the form of a comb or saw, some- 

 times furnished with hair, in form of plumes, bunches, or in a 

 whorl. The larvae live on plants, in the fields, in gardens, and 

 sometimes in woods. The perfect insects, at first sight, resemble 

 gnats, but are without a trunk, or rather their trunk is extremely 

 short, terminating in two large lips, and the sucker is composed 

 of two fibres only.* The larger species of Tipulte, which are 



* The genus Cecidowyia, which "belongs to this family, presents the most extraordi- 

 nary instance of agamo-genesis, or reproduction without fertilisation by another in- 

 dividual, at present known among insects. Until lately it was almost an axiom 

 with naturalists that no insect was capable of reproduction until it had attained its 

 adult or perfect state. Several continental observers, some of them without any 

 knowledge of the others' discoveries, have found that the larv ce of some of the species 

 of this genus reproduce larvae resembling themselves in every respect ; and what is 

 still more strange, these larvae live in a free state within the parent larva, feeding 

 upon its tissues, and causing its ultimate destruction. 



A very interesting article on this subject will be found in the " Popular Science 



