The gnat, the ephemera, the phryganea, the libellula, hover
over the water all day to drop their eggs, which are hatched in
the water, and continue there all the time they are in the larva
form. The mafs formed by the gnat refembles a little veffel fet
afloat by the infeft; each egg is in the form of a keel v thefe are
curioufly connected together. The gnat lays but one egg at a
time, which fhe lays upon the water in a very ingenious and Ample
manner; fhe ftretches her legs out, and crofles them, thus
forming an angle to receive and hold the firft e g g ; a fecond egg
is foon placed next the firft; then a third, and fo on, till the bafe
is capable of fupporting itfelf. The fpawn of this infed is fome-
times above an inch long, and one-eighth of an inch in diameter,
and tied by a little ftern, or ftalk, to fome flick or ftone. Sometimes
they are laid in a fingle, fometimes in a double fpiral line ;
fometimes tranfverfely. Many moths cover their offspring with
a thick bed of hair, which they gather from their own body;
while others cover them with a glutinous compofition, which,
when hard, protefts them from moifture, rain, and cold. The
gallflies, it has been already obferved, know how to open the
nerves of the leaves, to depofit thus their eggs in a place which
afterwards ferves them for a lodging, and a magazine o f food.
The folitary bees and wafps prepare an habitation for their little
ones in the earth, placing there a proper quantity o f food for
them, when they proceed from the egg. The voracious and
cruel fpider is attentive and careful of it’s eggs; the wolf fpider
carries them on it’s back in a little bag formed o f it’s fil'k; it cannot
be feparated from them but by violence, and exhibits the
moft marked figns o f uneafinefs when deprived of them : a cir-
eumftance the more remarkable, as they love to deftroy each
other, and even carry on their courtlhips with a diffidence and
4 caution,
caution unknown in any other fpecies of animals. The hiftory
of bees and wafps, and their care and attention to their offspring,
is fo well known, that I may with propriety pafs it over here, and
proceed juft to notice the induftrious ant, whofe paternal affeaion
and care is not fo well known. They are not fatisfied with placing
their eggs in fituations made on purpofe, and to ratfe or rear
them till they come to their nymph or pupa ftate ; but they even
extend their care to the pupa, removing them from their neft to
the furface of the earth, whenever the weather is fine, that they
may receive the benignant influence of the fun carrying them
back again as foon as the air begins to grow cold. I f any accident
difturbs their neft, and difperfes the pupas, they mamfeft
the greateft figns o f diftrefs, feeking the loft and fcattered pupas,
placing them in fome fteltered place while they repair the neft,
when they again tranfport them to it. * Many other curious particulars
might be related relative to this induftrious infed!, as
their uniting together in fcooping out earth, and tranfportmg the
materials for the -conftruaion o f their nefts, and the curious
ftrufture of the neft itfelf, which, though it appears piled up at
random, will be found, on ftriaer examination, to be a work o f
art and defign, with other circumftances which are too long to be
enumerated here.
The perception by which infeHs are afluated, fo as to fecure
in the moft wonderful manner their offspring, merits the moft
attentive confideration, and ftrongly marks the regular proceedings
of Divine Providence : they do not depofit them at random,
but place them in fituations agreeable to their nature, and m
places where they will meet with fuch fupplies of nounffiment, as
Leffers Theologie des InfeSes, tom. I, p- M3-