58 THE COMMON GNAT. 



standing its fine red colour, is generally left to the 

 birds. In the bogs, at about the same elevation, the 

 cranberry, or crowberry, (oxycoccus palustris,) is very 

 frequently met with, but it is harsh and austere. 



On the margin of those pools that occur in the 

 courses of the streams, as one approaches a mountain, 

 especially if the pool be surrounded with foliage, and 

 also on the sides of the little tarns or lakes, when they 

 are in sheltered situations, one meets with what would 

 hardly be looked for, a perfect inundation of gnats. 

 It is true that, during the very warm summers, the 

 sides of the rivers and lakes in Lapland are much more 

 infested with those troublesome and noisy insects than 

 countries that lie farther to the south, and have a' much 

 milder winter. From this it would appear that the 

 severity of the weather does not injure the eggs of the 

 gnat ; and indeed the instinct of the little creature 

 guards against any such injury, as the young continue 

 in the water till they assume the winged form, under 

 which they buzz and bite during their short aerial ex- 

 istence. The water, even in that state, cannot acquire 

 a very low temperature ; and as, generally speaking, 

 the pools and lakes in those countries are of sufficient 

 depth to prevent the whole from freezing down to the 

 bottom, even in the most rigorous winters, myriads 

 are reserved for each year. 



The common gnat, (culex pipiens,) which disturbs 

 the silence of night with its shrill pipe, and covers with 

 blotches or blisters the skins of such as have that part 

 of their person delicate and irritable, is a very singular 

 though a very small creature. Of the vast number 

 that are ever sporting over the water any fine evening, 



