GNAT. 
473 
It is only when she meets with flesh which re- 
sists her efforts, that she employs her pointed wea- 
pons ; at other times, when she has only soft fruits 
or juices for a repast, she merely inserts the ex- 
tremity of her trunk, and sucks the liquor through 
the tube. The observation of Reaumur, that of 
the many millions of these insects which swarm in 
the marshy places where they are bred, perhaps 
not one in a thousand can taste of blood in its life, 
is very just ; and therefore we must conclude that 
they were designed to live more on vegetable than 
animal juices. 
With such an instrument to extract the nutri- 
ment from every substance which may be the ob- 
ject of her choice, the gnat passes the summer in 
the greatest gaiety; but as soon as winter ap- 
proaches she loses her activity, the little sting is 
less and less employed, till at length she is released 
from the care of obtaining provisions, entirely 
ceases to eat, and passes the cold days and dreary 
nights of that melancholy season in caves and holes, 
where she can be sheltered till the spring calls her 
forth to accomplish the most important duty of her 
life, the perpetuating of her family. For this pur- 
pose she flies in quest of the first standing water, 
on which she deposits her eggs in the manner al- 
ready explained, and the little progeny arising from 
these are sometimes so numerous that the water 
which contains them seems completely animated. 
In the warmth of summer, when, for the sake of 
the little air which is to be obtained, we are in- 
