THE RAT-TAILED WORM FLY. 439 



surface of the water, and laid, in several places, a 

 little cluster of eggs. These were all deposited 

 where the wood was just damp from the influence 

 of the water below, and invariably in cavities be- 

 tween two adjoining staves, where the water was 

 less likely to be dried up than elsewhere. In this 

 situation, the young insect was no sooner extruded 

 from the egg than it found itself within the reach of 

 the element where it was destined to pass the most 

 considerable part of its life. 



The young are no sooner dropped into the water 

 than, like all other animals in their natural element, 

 they find themselves endowed with the instinct of 

 searching for their own food, and of employing, in 

 an appropriate mannner, 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 last, 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. 



Reaumur, in order to observe the economy of 

 these little creatures, which he denominated Rat- 

 tailed IVorms, collected a number of them, which he 

 put into a glass vessel filled two inches high with 

 water. At first they were considerably agitated, 

 each seemingly searching for a proper place of re- 

 pose. Some of them swam across, others attached 

 themselves to the sides, and others rested at the 

 bottom of the vessel. In a quarter of an hour they 



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