36 New Yoek State 



be brought to an unfavorable end. Fortunateh one of the prominent 

 elements of the water fauna replenishes it belt very rapidly. I refer 

 to the insect larvae that in multitude-* inhabit different sorts of 

 environment in our water bodies. First nv.d last they far exceed 

 in variety any other group of animals found in the water. For 

 the most part the adults live in the air, and are possessed of means 

 of flight sufficient to distribute them over considerable areas. As 

 soon as a bit of water becomes tenantable, there will be deposited 

 in it by the flying adults the eggs which will yield in the appropriate 

 time a supply of aquatic larvae. It is true, also, that the eggs 

 of some insects will be deposited in the water even though it is not 

 in condition to furnish them with a proper environment for develop- 

 ment; this is an effort, as it were, to utilize all possibilities of exist- 

 ence and to repopulate the given area before it has actually reached 

 the condition in which existence is possible. 



