Entomologists are familiar with the following facts, and were this work addressed to them alone, a simple mention of the insect would be sufficient. But as this work is intended for the general public, it will be necessary to give a description, though a brief one, of the wonderful manner in which an insect, which we are apt to think is only too common, plays the part of a boat at its entrance to life and just before its departure from this world, not to mention its intermediate state, to which reference will be made under another heading. The insect in question is the common GNAT (_Culex pipiens_), which makes such ravages upon those who are afflicted, like myself, with delicate skins, and can have a limb rendered useless for days by a single gnat-bite. In this insect, the beginning and the end of life are so closely interwoven, that it is not easy to determine which has the prior claim to description, but we will begin with the egg. With very few exceptions, such as the Earwig, which watches over its eggs and young like a hen over her nest and chickens, the insects merely deposit their eggs upon or close to the food of the future young, and leave them to their fate. The eggs of the Gnat, however, require different treatment. The young larvæ, when hatched, immediately pass into the water in which they have to live, and yet the eggs are so constituted that they need the warmth of the sun in order to hatch them. The machinery by which both these objects are attained is singularly beautiful. The shape of the egg very much resembles that of a common ninepin, and the structure is such that it must be kept upright, so that the top shall be exposed to the air and sun, and the bottom be immersed in the water. It would be almost impossible that these conditions should be attained if the eggs were either dropped separately into the water or fixed to aquatic plants, as is the case with many creatures whose eggs are hatched solely in or on the water. As is the case with many insects, each egg when laid is enveloped with a slight coating of a glutinous character, so that they adhere together. And, in the case of the Gnat, this material is insoluble in water, and hardens almost immediately after the egg is deposited. Taking advantage of these peculiarities, the female Gnat places herself on the edge of a floating leaf or similar object, so that her long and slender hind-legs rest on the water. In some mysterious way, the eggs, as they are successively produced, are passed along the hind-legs, and are arranged side by side in such a manner that they are formed into the figure of a boat, being fixed to each other by the glutinous substance which has already been mentioned.