100 THE INSECT WORLD. 



M. Virlet d'Aoust, has published the following details on this 

 subject : 



" Thousands of small amphibious flies/' says M. Virlet d'Aoust, 

 " flit about in the air on the surface of lakes, and diving down into 

 the water many feet and even many fathoms, go to the bottom to 

 lay their eggs, and only emerge from the water probably to die 

 close by. We were fortunate enough to be present at a great 

 fishing or harvest of the eggs, which, under the Mexican name 

 of hautle (haoutle), serve for food to the Indians, who seem to be 

 no less fond of them than the Chinese are of their swallows' nests, 

 which they resemble somewhat in taste. Only the hautle is far 

 from commanding such high prices as the Chinese pay for their 

 birds' nests, which for that reason are reserved entirely for the tables 

 of the rich ; while, for a few small coins, we were able to carry away 

 with us about a bushel of the hautle, of which, at our request, 

 Mme. B was kind enough to prepare us a part. 



"They dress these in different ways, but generally make 

 a sort of cake, which is served up with a sauce, to which the 

 Mexicans give a zest, as they do indeed to all their dishes, by 

 adding to it chilie, which is composed of green pimento crushed. 

 This is how the natives proceed when they are fishing for hautle : 

 they form with reeds bent together a sort of fasces, which they place 

 vertically in the lake at some distance from the bank, and as these 

 are bound together by one of the reeds, whose ends are so arranged 

 as to form an indicating buoy, it is easy to draw them out at will. 

 Twelve to fifteen days suffice for each reed in these fasces to be 

 entirely covered with eggs, which they thus fish up by millions. 

 The former are then left to dry in the sun, on a cloth, for an hour 

 or more ; the grains are then easily detached. After this operation, 

 they are replaced in the water for the next hautle harvest." 



M. Yirlet had attributed to flies the eggs of which we have 

 been speaking. But in 1851 M. Guerin-Meneville, having re- 

 ceived, transmitted to him by M. Ghiliani, eggs of which hautle 

 is made, and some of the insects said to produce them, stated that 

 the latter belonged to two different species. Throne had been 

 known a long time since under the name of Corixa mercenaria ; 

 M. Guerin-Meneville called the other Corixa femorata. 



The same entomologist discovered, among the eggs of these 



