. The world of animal life. Zoology. 352 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE GNATS (Family CULICID^) The Gnat is not a very great favourite with us. We know too much of the powers of its beak, and the irritating nature of its bite, to be very fond of it. We have, however, one great consolation in the fact that our British gnats are com- paratively harmless in comparison with their first cousins the mos- quitoes ; for mosqui- toes belong to the same family as our gnats, in fact, no real distinction is to be " made between them. But nevertheless the / gnat is a most inter- esting insect. When the
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. The world of animal life. Zoology. 352 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE GNATS (Family CULICID^) The Gnat is not a very great favourite with us. We know too much of the powers of its beak, and the irritating nature of its bite, to be very fond of it. We have, however, one great consolation in the fact that our British gnats are com- paratively harmless in comparison with their first cousins the mos- quitoes ; for mosqui- toes belong to the same family as our gnats, in fact, no real distinction is to be " made between them. But nevertheless the / gnat is a most inter- esting insect. When the mother gnat is about to lay her eggs she flies off in search of some pond or stagnant pool, or ditch of standing water. Even a rain-water butt will answer her purpose, if she can find nothing better. For the future grubs, when they hatch out, will only be able to live in the water; and there- fore she must so place her eggs that, when they appear, they may find themselves in their native element. But she does not merely drop her eggs into the water and leave them. That would never do; for unless they are in contact with the air as well as with the water they will not hatch. So the clever little gnat, as she lays them, fastens them together into a kind of boat or raft. It is very interesting to watch a gnat laying her eggs. She rests on some small floating object, such as a bit of leaf or twig, . Gnat: rauch enlarged. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.. Smith, Fred, pseud. , ed. London, Glasgow [etc. ] Blackie and son, Ltd.