268 INSECT WATER TRESPASSERS. 



in the mud, and perfectly motionless, as we shall pre- 

 sently see. 



These larvae are not at all pretty objects, looking 

 in miniature very much like brown soda-water bottles, 

 with necks some four feet long. As in the gnat larva, 

 that of the Drone fly breathes through the tail,and avery 

 curious tail it is. The gnat larva being able to swim 

 through the water, and ascend to the surface whenever 

 it desires, has nothing abnormal in the shape or size 

 of the body, the chief peculiarity being the star-like 

 fringe by which the orifice of the breathing tubes is 

 kept in contact with the air. 



The larva of the Drone fly, however, passes a very 

 curious existence. It lives in soft mud, mostly that 

 which is obtained by the decomposition of leaves in 

 the shallow water at the edge of a pond. Into this 

 very unfragrant material it burrows with its head 

 downwards, and there remains until its larval life is 

 over. The problem now remains, how it is to obtain 

 a supply of air. This is done by means of the extra- 

 ordinary appendage which has gained for it the popular 

 title of "rat-tailed" maggot. 



The end of the body is modified into a tube, which 

 can be lengthened or shortened at the will of the 

 owner, and through this tube run the air-vessels which 

 supply the body, When all is quiet, the larva elon- 

 gates the tube, so that the tip of it projects just above 

 the surface of the water, and it is thus enabled to 

 breathe, just as the elephant does when it walks 

 across the bed of a stream, and only keeps the tip of 

 its trunk above the water. 



Here, again, we find that art has been anticipated 



