THE GNATS. 



Frequent woods and watery places. 



crusted with a coat of dirt. This seems to be 

 their colour, till they are washed, when they are 

 found of a transparent white. 



The young are no sooner dropped into the 

 water, than, like all other animals in their natu- 

 ral element, they find themselves endowed with 

 the instinct of searching for fcheir own food, and 



C/ 



<of applying in an appropriate manner, all the 

 members of their body to the proper uses for 

 which they are naturally adapted. 



'The tail of this insect, like that of the came- 

 Jion fly, is its organ of respiration; and though, 

 like the whale, it is an inhabitant of the water, 

 yet, like that, it is a breathing animal, and would 

 be entirely suffocated, were it to be continued 

 under water and excluded from access to the air. 



The month of the gnats has a long slender 

 trunk, or flexile sheath, inclosing five pointed 

 bristles; it has also two feelers. The antennae 

 are generally thread-shaped, but those of some 

 of the males are feathered. 



These insects principally frequent woods and 

 watery places, and are generally known to the 

 country people by the name of midges. They 

 live by sucking the blood and juices of the larger 

 animals. Their larvae are very common in stag-* 

 nant waters; those of the common gnat may be 

 seen with their heads downward, and the extre- 

 mity of their abdomen at the surface; from the 

 pide of which arises the hollow tube through 

 they respire. Their heads are armed with 



