Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/724

700   GMELIN, (1743–1774), an eminent naturalist, nephew of J. G. Gmelin (see above), was born at Ti'rbingen, June :33, 1743. He graduated there as BLD. in 1763, went to St I’etersburg in 1767, and in 1768, with Pall-as, Giildenstiidt, and Lapuchin, comnreuced a journey for the scientiﬁc exploration of the south-east possessions of Russia. Having visited in succession the western districts of the Don, the Persian provinces to the south and south- west of the Caspian Sea, the regions of the Volga, and the eastern borders of the Caspian, he in 1774 was on his way back to St I’etersburg when he was seized as a hostage by Usrney Khan, of the Kaitak tribe, through whose ill- treatment he (lied on July 27th of the same year.

1em  GMÜND, a town of W'iirtemberg, circle of Jaxt, for- merly a free imperial town, is situated in a charming and fruitful valley on the Bears, here spanned by a beautiful bridge, 31 miles E.N.E. of Stuttgart. It is surrounded by old walls, ﬂanked with towers, and has a considerable num- ' ber of ancient buildings, among which are the church of the Holy Cross; St John’s church, which dates from the time of the Hohenstaufens ; St Leonard’s church, situated on a height near the town, partly hewn out of the rock and much frequented by pilgrims ; the chapels of St Joseph and Gods Rest; and the Dominican convent, founded in , now a house of correction. Among the modern buildings are the gymnasium, the drawing and tradesclrools, thelioman Catholic seminary, the town hall, the royal deaf-mute and blind institute, the blind asylum, the lunatic asylum, and two hespitals. The industries include the manufacture of J gold, silver, copper, bronze, and brass wares, silk and part- silk cloths, tobacco, wax, glue, leather, furniture, bone-dust, ! and lucifer matches. There is also considerable trade in corn, hops, and fruit. Population in 187:"), 12,838.

1em  GNAT, a name (Anglo Saxon, gncet) properly applied to the members of the C'ulz'cidcc (a family of the insect order Diptera, division Orlkorr/mpka, subdivision A'ematocera, section Eucep/Lala), but Sometimes also used for the Chiro- nomz'clw. The Culicirltc consist of about 150 known species, of the genera C ulex, Anopheles, .lales, Psoroplmra, C'orelkra, &c.; they are distributed over the chief divisions of the world, and, in spite of their very feeble build, reach as far north as man has penetrated (having been found during Narcs’s recent Arctic expedition). As regards time, ex- amples of a Caller and a Cord/rm. have been discovered in the Tertiary beds of the Lower White River, Colorado. The Culicirlre are distinguished from their immediate allies, amongst other characters, by having the parts of the mouth produced into a slender porrected rostrum, nearly half the length of the insect, and composed of many distinct pieces- (seven, according to \Vestwood, who remarks that the mouth in these delicate creatures is formed of the same number of pieces, and on the same plan, as that of the robust Taluuu'), and many-jointed pal pi, very long and pilose in the male, in which sex the antennae are plumose and 1-1- jointed. The ﬁbrils of the antenna: are considered by Mayer as auditory organs. The usual special representative of the family is (la/ex 1a))z'ens, the common gnat, whose blood-sucking propensities have rendered it too well known. It pierces the skin with the needle-like lancets of its rostrum, which are barbed at the tips, and gradually inserts the whole of those organs, at the same time liquefying the blood by some ﬂuid secretion, which apparently adds to the sub- sequent irritation. The female, recognizable by her rrrore simple antennae and palpi, alone attacks man, and, in default of her favourite food, will feed on the honey of ﬂowers. This blood-sucking taste is shared by the allied Simulz'iclcc. The dreaded mosquito is nothing but a species of C’lllt’l‘, so closely allied to C.1n'1n'ens that it is ditlicult to say where “ gnat ” ends and “mosquito ” begins, though the original mosquito is a native of Cuba. The curious hum- ming noise (from which the name pr'pz'ms is fancifully derived) accompanying the ﬂight of the gnat is caused by the extremely rapid motion of its wings, which have bcen calculated to vibrate 3000 times in a minute,» the great relative bulk of the thoracic muscles accounting materially for this. In connexion with the gnat's wing it may be observed that, though apparently clear, “' battled ore seales “ have been discovered upon it by microscopists. 'l‘he habit of gnats to associate in clouds has been frequently noticed, from the poet Spenser downwards ; and instances are even on record of their gatherings round church-spires having caused alarms of ﬁre, from being mistaken for smoke. This apparently arises from the extreme spontaneity and ease of the individuals in their evolutions, which are so rapidly con- ducted as to enable them to ﬂy unwet in a shower of rain. It has been observed that many of these large gathering. are exclusively Composed of females. The transformations of the gnat have often been chronicled, and by none in a more interesting way than Réanmur. The female deposits her eggs in a little raft or boat-like mass, upon the surface of water, using her hind-legs while packing them together ; the larvze hatched from them are very active, (living in a jerky manner quickly, and often coming to the surface to breathe, suspending thcmselvcs head downwards, and taking in atmospheric air through a spiracle in one of the large tubes into which the end of the body subdivides. The pupa: are also capable of active motion by means of paddles at the tail, and also suspend themselves under the surface for respiratory purposes, though not breathing as in the larva, but through two little tubes on the back of the thorax. When the perfect insect makes its appearance, the pupa-skin is used by it as a ﬂoating foothold until it is ready to take to ﬂight. So short a time is cccnpied by the entire series of metamorphosis that many generations are perfected in one summer.  GNESEN (Polish, (an'emo), the chief town of a circle in the Prussian province of Posen, government of Bromberg, is situatedon the Wrzesnia, 30 miles of Posen. Besides the cathedral, which contains the remains of St Adalbert, there are nine Roman Catholic churches, and there is alSo a Protestant church, a synagogue, a clerical seminary, and a convent of the Franciscan nuns. The industries are cloth and linen weaving and brandy making. A great horse and cattle market is held annually. The population in 1875 was 11,203, of whom about half are Poles.

1em  GNOSTICISM, a general name applied to various forms of speculation in the early history of the church. The term yer-ms is found in the Septuagint translation of the Old