130 A TOTJE ROUND MT GABDEN. 



In the same strip of water there are some elongated wonuB, 

 of a beautiful red colour; they pass their lives in making 

 movements so rapid, that they might be pronounced figures 

 of eight. There will come a moment in which they will be 

 metamorphosed into tipulse— a sort of innocent gnat, which 

 eats nobody, that I know of, but is confounded with gnats in 

 the same penalty and the same food by birds. These trans- 

 formations are very curious spectacles, and we have only to 

 stoop a little to enjoy them. During the whole summer, from 

 mid-day to four o'clock, we cannot stand over a pool of stag- 

 nant water without' seeing, in a quarter of an hour, twenty or 

 thirty dolphins restore captive gnats to the sun and air, 

 absolutely just as the whale cast Jonah upon the shore. 



Nowithstanding our just cause of complaint against gnats, 

 we must acknowledge that they are prettier insects than they 

 at first appear to be. They have in the fore-part of their heads 

 antennae, in rich tufts ; and their eyes, which in certain aspects 

 look like little emeralds, become, when seen in another fight, 

 very sparkling rubies. 



I have been stung more than ten times to-day, whilst 

 studying the arms of these anthropophagi, upon which I could 

 now, if I did not pride myself above all things upon being 

 an ignoramus, and preserving the reputation of one, write 

 a special treatise de armis. 



