190S 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



III. The energy of many species of insects is surprising — they are full of life. In some 

 cases, as in that of the mosquito, they are— as the little girl said of a troublesome puppy — ' ' too 

 much alive." 



On the 22nd of June of this year, I was staying at the beautiful country house of the 

 'Hon lurable Richard Turner, on the Island of Orleans. I looked from my bedroom window 

 ■early in the morning — it was a bright, sunny morning — and lo, the air was full of light gauzy 

 forms sporting around the trees on the lawn and over the tops of them. There were myriads of 

 the creatures ; and all day long they kept up their mazy dance, seldom alighting to rest. They 

 belonged to the species Ephemera sim^Uans, Walker The wings of this species are spotted 

 with brown, and are strengthened with an exquisite net- work of " nerves." The long waving 

 tails of the insects add grace to their movements. (Fig. 1 2). 



If I ^ay, I will here mention an episode, that was narrated to me by the much esteemed 

 Editor of our magazine. Dr. Bethune. Some years ago, an alarm of fire was raised in the 



town in which he then resided The fire-engines were 

 called out and there was a great commotion From the 

 roof of a large warehouse, near the water, volumes of 



Fig. 12. (Oriffinal.) Fit?, 13. (Original.) 



seeming smoke and heated air were rising and eddying. On reaching the building the firemen 

 found that they had been misled, or, as the boys would say " sold." The appearance that had 

 alarmed the town was caused by innumerable specimens of Polystichotes punctatus. Fab, rising 

 from, and sporting over, the roof. (Fig. 13.) 



Often during the time I lived in the Eastern Townships, when driving home in the calm 

 summer evenings, I noticed above the top of some giant monarch of the forest, a mysterious 

 moving column just discernible against the pale after glow of the sunset. The appearances 

 were due to assemblies of insects, taking their pleasure in the heights. 



Who has not noticed the dash with which the bee comes suddenly out of the blue and 

 alights upon the foot- board of the hive, as"if, like the clown in the pantomine he would say, 

 " Here we are again ! " 



That energetic little fellow the Flea, Pulex irritans, Linneus, can leap thirty times its 

 own height. 



Who has not admired the persistence with which the bot-fly, Gastrophilus eqni, Linneus, 

 keeps up with the trotting horse and hovers around its legs, till opportunities occur of attaching 

 its eggs to them. 



It is the cold breath of approaching winter that robs the insect world of its energy, that 

 takes the life out of it. Apropos of this, " The Duchess" in her story entitled " Her Labt 

 Throw " has a little piece of quiet fun. One of her characters. Fay, is speaking : — 



" Her voice annoys me. It is so slow — so dranibj. it is irritating. It is lifeless. She 

 talks as though she were a fly in October." 



" Captain Severn laughs rather constrainedly. 



