Note u — BOOK IV.

For an Instance of Insects endued with a Spear, I shall, for its Peculiarity, pitch upon one of the smallest, if not the very smallest of all the Gnat-kind, which I call, Culex minimus nigricans maculatus sanguisuga. Among us in Essex, they are called Nidiots, by Mouffet Midges. It is about ⅒ of an Inch, or somewhat more long, with short Antennæ, plain in the Female, in the Male feather’d, somewhat like a Bottle-Brush. It is spotted with blackish Spots, especially on the Wings, which extend a little beyond the Body. It comes from a little slender Eel-like Worm, of a dirty white Colour, swimming in stagnating Waters by a wrigling Motion; as in Fig. 5.

Its Aurelia is small, with a black Head, little short Horns, a spotted, slender, rough Belly, Vid. Fig. 6. It lies quietly on the top of the Water, now and then gently wagging it self this way and that.

These Gnats are greedy Blood-Suckers, and very troublesome, where numerous, as they are in some Places near the Thames, particularly in the Breach-Waters that have lately befallen near us, in the Parish of Dagenham; where I found them so vexatious, that I was glad to get out of those Marshes. Yea, I have seen Horses so stung with them, that they have had Drops of Blood all over their Bodies, where they were wounded by them.

I have given a Figure (in Fig. 7.) and more particular Description of the Gnats, because, although it be common, it is no where taken notice of by any Author I know, except Mouffet, who, I suppose, means these Gnats, which he calls Midges, c. 13. p. 82.