
100 THE INSECT WORLD. 
M. Virlet d’Aoust, has published the following details on this 
subject :— 
“ Thousands of small ene flies,”’ says M. Virlet d’Aoust, 
“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 egos, J which, under the Mexican name 
of hee (aoutle), 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 Aawtle 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 
vertically 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 1s easy to draw them out at will. 
Twelve to fifteen days suffice for each reed in these 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 re- 
ceived, transmitted to him by M. Ghiliani, eggs of which sautle 
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 Cortxa mercenaria ; 
M. Guérin-Méneville called the other Corixa femorata. 
The same entomologist discovered, among the eggs of these 
