174 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



of the low bluff at the base of which he was sitting, and that he did 

 not go elsewhere to observe them. The stream was not more than 

 three feet distant and only a few inches above the ground. The flies 

 appeared to belong to a single species, as several were caught for 

 identification, and proved to be a species of llythea, one of the 

 Ephi/dridac, and probably the European species I.spilota as that is the 

 only one recorded from that part of the United States. 



Douglas notes {Ent. Mo. Mcui., xviii., p. 142) that, in the Shippiwi 

 and Mercantile (iazette of September 8th, 1880, there is the following 

 statement : " The master of the schooner ' Topsy ' informs us that at 

 10 a.m., on September 20th, while on a passage from Grimsby to 

 London, the 'Topsy' became covered with swarms of flies, and so thick 

 were they that the people on board were unable to remain on deck for 

 five hours. There were millions upon millions of flies. The air 

 became clear alDout 4 p.m., when the flies were thrown overboard by 

 shovels full, and the remainder were washed off the decks by buckets 

 of water and brooms." Interviewing the master of the " Topsy," 

 Douglas said that he was informed that there was not the least 

 exaggeration in the statement. The vessel was, at the time, sailing 

 along the Norfolk coast, about a cable's length from the shore, the 

 air was obscured by the flies as by a cloud, and they fell as thickly as 

 snowflakes closely covering the rigging as well as the deck. Some of 

 the specimens were given to Douglas who sent them to Meade. He 

 reported that the examples were " females of Dilopns ndnaris-, an 

 exceedingly abundant rpecies on sandhills, sometimes appearing in 

 immense numbers or masses, in which the members of one sex usually 

 greatly prt dominate over those of the other." He added that "some of 

 the species of Bihio, to which Dil<ip/nis is closely allied, have the same 

 habit." 



Van Bemmelen records {Handelirnjen Ned. Ent. Vereen., 1856, p. 

 96) that, in 1852, on a summer evening, a very large swarm of black 

 flies, Bihio, flew rapidly past him near Warmond in South Holland, 

 with a swift flight. It was blowing very strongly, and the 

 observer's face and hands were covered with a quantity of the insects 

 in a moment, but they disappeared immediately, and just as suddenly 

 as they came, in inirsuit of the troop before them. He further notes 

 a great swarm of diptera, also supposed to be liibio, which suddenly 

 appeared in suiamer of 1854, outside the gates of Leiden, and which, 

 he says, was l^rought by the wind. Further he notes {anted, p. 91) 

 that, on July 13th, 1855, at 11 a.m., he was on the sea at a short 

 distance from the shore at Noordwijk aan Zee when he saw an innumer- 

 able multitude of insects, coming flying over the sea, wildly and 

 irregularly, at a considerable distance from each other. He distin- 

 guished among them Pieru hrassicae, one or more species of sand- 

 wasps (SpJier), and certain flies, very like Miisca romjtoria, which flew 

 with such amazing swiftness that when he returned to the shore it 

 was impossible to catch them, and he was only able to knock down a 

 sandwasp, and a fly, and even these escaped. As soon as the swarm 

 had reached the dunes, they slackened their speed, some settled down, 

 whilst others flew on. The flight was under observation for more 

 than an hour, but as the observer could not stay longer on the beach 

 he could not say how much longer it lasted. They flew from W.N.W. 

 to E.N.E. The wmd was W.N.W. and gentle. 



Rowley observes [Ent., vi., p. 143) that, on May 10th, 1872, the 



