100 THE INSECT WORLD. 
naturalist, M. Virlet d’Aoust, has published the foliowing details 
on this subject :— 
“Thousands of small amphibious flies,” he says, “ flit about 
in the air on the surface of lakes, and diving down into the 
water many feet and even many fathoms, go to the bottom to 
lay their eggs, and only emerge from the water probably to die 
close by. We were fortunate enough to be present at a great 
fishing or harvest of the eggs, which, under the Mexican name 
of hautle (haoutle), serve for food to the Indians, who seem to be 
no less fond of them than the Chinese are of their swallows’ nests, 
which they resemble somewhat in taste. Only the havtle is far 
from commanding such high prices as the Chinese pay for their 
birds’ nests, which for that reason are reserved entirely for the 
tables of the rich; while, for a few small coins, we were able to 
carry away with us about a bushel of the /autle, of which, at our 
request, Mme. B was kind enough to prepare us a part. 
“They dress these in different ways, but generally make a sort 
of cake, which is served up with a sauce, to which the Mexicans 
give a zest, as they do indeed to all their dishes, by adding to it 
chilié, which is composed of green pimento crushed. ‘This is how 
the natives proceed when they are fishing for hautle: they form 
with reeds bent together a sort of fasces, which they place verti- 
cally in the lake at some distance from the bank, and as these are 
bound together by one of the reeds, whose ends are so arranged 
as to form an indicating buoy, it is easy to draw them out at will. 
Twelve to fifteen days suffice for each reed in those fasces to be 
entirely covered with eggs, which they thus fish up by millions. 
The former are then left to dry in the sun, on a cloth, for an hour 
or more; the grains are then easily detached. After this operation, 
they are replaced in the water for the next hautle harvest.” 
M. Virlet had attributed to flies the eggs of which we have been 
speaking. But in 1851 M. Guérin-Méneville having received, 
transmitted to him by M. Ghiliani, eggs of which /awtle is made, 
and some of the insects said to produce them, stated that the latter 
belonged to two different species. The one had been known a 
long time since under the name of Corixa mercenaria ; M. Guérin- 
Méneville called the other Corira femorata. 
The same entomologist discovered, among the eggs of these 

