GNATS, or Mosquitoes (for they are both the same), are of several species, both in this country and elsewhere; but in this country we always call them gnats, and in foreign countries mosquitoes.

The hotter the climate or the season, the more active and energetic, and therefore the more formidable, the little creature becomes, as if it drew vigour and venom from the sun. In dull, cold summers it is drowsy and sluggish, and troubles us very little; but in a hot season we find it far more difficult to catch, its little trumpet sounds a more angry war-note, and its spear pierces like a red-hot needle. So, much more, in hot climates. Humboldt speaks of some districts in the interior of South America which were quite uninhabitable on account of the mosquitoes; of others where the inhabitants were obliged to raise their cabins on high stilt-like piles, to get above the stratum of air occupied by their enemies; other travellers give equally terrible accounts of the torments they have endured in countries and climates most favourable for the production of this pest. The meaning of "mosquito" is "little fly;" but it is an important little fly, to be able to depopulate some extensive regions, and to prescribe laws of domestic economy in others; and still more, to give its name to places and countries,--as Mosquito Bay, in St. Christopher's, Mosquitos, a town * The noise is produced by the rapid vibration of the wings.

in Cuba, and the Mosquito Shore, in Mexico. But it is not only in tropical countries that gnats are so serious a pest: in Lapland and the icy regions of the north, they are, according to all accounts, equally formidable during those hot summers when the sun never

sets.

The gnat or mosquito, belongs to the order of insects called diptera, or two-winged flies. In its perfect state it has a light airy form, with long, slender, springy legs. The male is distinguished from the female by its beautifully feathered antennæ, or horns; and it should be borne in mind that the former is quite harmless. It is the female only that bites or stings. Now it is perfectly indifferent to me, my dear reader, whether you say 66 gnat bite" or "gnat sting." There is something to be said on both sides. In favour of "bite" is the fact of the instrument being situated in the mouth; in favour of "sting" is the construction of the instrument itself, which is to all intents and purposes a sting, on exactly the same principle as that of the bee, though it is not placed, as stings usually are, in the tail. But the proboscis of the gnat is not a sting only, it is also a suction-pump

for the purpose of nutrition, and so may be considered as the proboscis and the sting of the bee united in one. It is a singular fact, that whenever insects in the order diptera are furnished with a sting, it is always in this way, the mouth modified; and whenever an insect in the order hymenoptera (bees, wasps, &c.) is similarly armed, the instrument is in the tail. And the same rule holds good in both orders as to the possessors of these formidable arms: they belong to the females only. Gnats, horseflies, wasps, bees, ants, and the rest of them are all true Amazons. In the diptera, then, we should regard the sting merely as part of an instrument for nutrition, while in the hymenoptera it is strictly a weapon of offence and vengeance. The female gnat stings you when it wants a drink of your blood, which in hot weather is rather frequently; the wasp or bee only when you have hurt it, or it fancies you are going to do so. Consequently, gnat stings are very much more common than bee stings, and gnats are a far greater plague to man than bees or wasps. Their name is Legion, their sting sharp, and their venom burning. But, reader, charitable reader, when you know that this

venom is necessary for liquefying the blood and making it more convenient for suction,when you know that the sting is necessary to tap your vein,-when you consider that ladies with such numerous families as female gnats require a large quantity of stimulant, and that their prodigious fecundity is rather a misfortune than a fault,-when, lastly, you bear in mind that the gnat has no ill-will towards you, but that she regards you as her natural food; charitable reader, I say, will you treat her as the angry bee, or the vengeful wasp?

This is a question of a moral nature arising from our subject which I leave to your calm consideration. But what, you ask, does the male gnat live upon? I can find nothing on the subject in any work on natural history, you must therefore be contented with conjecture. It is quite possible that it lives on nothing but air. Many insects eat nothing after arriving at the perfect state; they have eaten so much in the previous states, that they don't require it. The silk-worm moth is a familiar example of this. It may be so with the male gnat. It seems that he has not much to do, and Nature, content with having