DADDY LONG-LEGS, OR CRANE-FLIES. 
433 
difficulty, for if the body be burst, and a single egg suffered to remain, the creature will be 
hatched in the wound, and the result will be a painful festering sore. If such an event should 
take place, the best plan is to pour a drop of spirit of turpentine into the wound, a process 
sufficiently painful, but yet preferable to the risk of the future sores. 
The young negroes are very subject to the Chigoe, and every evening a chorus of outcries 
is usually heard, being sounds of lamentation from the children, whose toes are undergoing 
maternal inspection. The little creatures, with the short-sighted cunning of childhood, always 
try to hide the Chigoe bite, in hopes of escaping the resulting needle. But their cunning only 
meets its due reward, as when the Chigoe has made her burrow, the sharp eye of the negress 
is sure to discover it, and then the whole nest has to be excavated, and rendered untenable by 
red pepper, rubbed well into the hollow. Indeed, if it were not for the terror inspired by the 
red pepper, the children would hardly have a sound foot among them. 
It may seem curious that the insect should be able to burrow under the skin without 
being discovered, but the fact is, that it sets about its work so quietly, and insinuates itself so 
gently, that the only perceptible sensation is a slight but not unpleasant irritation. 
DIPTERA. 
We now pass to the Diptera, or Two-winged Insects, which may be known not only by 
the single pair of wings, but by the little appendages at their base, called halteres or balancers, 
and which are the only vestiges of the hinder pair of wings. Moreover, the wings are not 
capable of being folded. This order is of vast extent, and includes a whole host of species, 
many being extremely minute, and many others displaying so many uncertainties of form and 
habit, that the arrangement of this order is one of the greatest difficulties with which system- 
atic entomologists have to contend. In the following engravings a few examples are given of 
this order, for the purpose of illustrating some of the principal families. 
The Common Gnat is an example of the family Culicidse. The mouth of this pretty and 
graceful but very annoying insect, is fully as complicated as that of the flea, and under the 
microscope is a truly beautiful object. The male Gnat, which is easily known by the plumed 
antennae, is not to be feared, not being a bloodsucker, that characteristic belonging solely to 
the female. 
The eggs of the Gnat are laid in, or rather upon, water, and are built, as fast as laid, into 
a boat-like shape, which possesses such powers of flotation, that, even if water be poured 
upon it, the mimic vessel turns out the water, and rights itself as well as any life-boat. 
When hatched, the larvae fall into the water, and begin at once to make themselves very con- 
spicuous by their continual twisting and jerking themselves about. They are long-tailed, 
large-headed insects ; and when they are at rest, they hang with their heads downwards, the 
whorl of hairs at the tip of the branched tail serving as a float. Through this tail the respira- 
tion is carried on, the little creature requiring to breathe atmospheric air. In process of time, 
the larva changes into an active pupa, and, lastly, when the perfect insect is about to make its 
appearance, it rises to the surface, the pupal skin splits along the back, and forms a kind of 
raft, on which the Gnat stands until its wings have attained sufficient strength for flight. 
The Tipulidse are very familiar to us through the well-known insects called Daddy Long- 
legs, or Crane-flies. In their perfect state, these insects are perfectly harmless, although 
ignorant people are afraid to touch them. But, in their larval condition,, they are fearful 
pests, living just below the surface of the ground, and feeding on the roots of grasses. Whole 
acres of grass have been destroyed by these larvae ; and, two or three years ago, Blackheath 
Park was so infested with them, that the turf was much injured, and in the beginning of 
autumn the ground was covered thickly with the empty pupa cases of the escaped insects. 
Vol. m.— 55. 
