72 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



nettles, in Copenhagen-fields, Islington. A similar 

 deposition of eggs is made by several of the mothers 

 of the subsolitary caterpillars which live in the wood 

 of trees. Of this we had a good exain[)le in the 

 clear under-wing [^^o-eria asilij'ormis), above a score 

 of the small black eggs of which we Ibiind deposited 

 in a scattered manner on the trunk of a single poplar 

 at Lee.* 



The most singular disposal of eggs with which we 

 are acquainted in the economy of insects, is e.xempli- 

 fied in the common gnat {Cnlex pipitns, Linn.) It 

 is admirably described by Reaumur, though it seems 

 first to have been discovered by Langallo, who men- 

 tions it in a letter addressed to Redi, printed at Flo- 

 rence m 1679 ; and by Alloa, who actually saw the 

 eggs laid, and afterwards sketclied a figure of them. 

 Those who wish to witness this singular operation, 

 must repair before five or six o'clock in the morning 

 to a pond or a bucket of stagnant water frequented by 

 gnats ; when R aumur went later in the day he was 

 always disappointed. 



The facts of this disposal of her eggs by the com- 

 mon gnat, are sufficiently curious to excite attention 

 to them ; and, therefore, it is not easily to be under- 

 stood how the following erroneous and fanciful 

 account originated. ' The manner,' says Gold- 

 smith, ' in which the insect lays its eggs is particu- 

 larly curious ; after having laid the proper number on 

 the surface of the water, it surrounds them with a 

 kind of unctuous matter, which prevents them from 

 sinking, but at the same time faslcns Ihcni uilh a 

 thread to the bottom, to prevent their floating away, 

 at the mercy of every breeze, fiom a place the warmth 

 of which is proper for their production, to any other 

 where the water may be too cold, or tlie animals, its 

 enemies, too numerous. Thus the insects, in their 



