212 THE entomologist's record. 



the spire of a church in Coburg, in 1866, and referred to Entom., 

 vii., p. 14. So similar to smoke did this cloud appear that, as soon 

 as it was observed, firemen prepared to make the ascent, and the 

 whole neighbourhood turned out to see the fire. When the fire- 

 men reached the top of the tower, they were seen by the spectators 

 below to be apparently warding off the attacks of something, aiid, 

 rapidly descending, they reported that the apparent smoke was nothing 

 more than millions of winged ants gyrating about the steeple. 

 Mackay observes (Tnacct Life, vii., p. 52) of a swarm of Prenolepis 

 parvula that appeared on August 24th, 1894, in the valley of the 

 East River in the county of Pictou, Nova Scotia, that the cloud was 

 dense enough on some occasions to intercept the light of the sun, that the 

 ants did not appear to alight until dead, that they were visible during the 

 whole afternoon until 7 p.m., and that their course appeared to be along 

 the valley of the river in a direction from southwest to northeast. Fiske 

 notes {loc. cit., p. 280) that, in September, 1894, at Mast Yard, New- 

 Hampshire, a quantity of "smoke" was seen rising above a group 

 of pines. Instant investigation was made, and it was found that the 

 "smoke "was an immense swarm of winged ants. Smith observes 

 {Ent. Annual, 1856, p. 94) a vast swarming of Mi/rnuca scabrinodis, 

 M. laerinodia, and Formica rnfa during the third week of September, 

 1856, in the neighbourhood of Dover. On a calm, gloomy, and 

 sultry day, clouds of winged Myrmicids {Mynnica scabrinadu and M. 

 laerinodis) occupied the summit of the Shakespeare's cliff, but their 

 hosts were surpassed by the countless myriads of Formica riifa, which 

 hung like a cloud over the cliffs to the east of the town ; thousands upon 

 thousands of these were floating on the sea, in some places, in dark 

 masses, four or five yards in length and breadth, whilst a marginal 

 line of dead and dying individuals extended nearly a mile along the 

 shore. Hall notes {Ent. Mo. Maf/., xxiv., p. 91) that, on August 7tb, 

 1887, at Biickland, near Dover, the air was literally full of males, and 

 the ground and walls covered by myriads of both sexes, of Laaiiis 

 alioins. He observes that the evening was still and sultry, and that 

 although he had previously seen the insect in great abundance on the 

 Deal sandhills, he had never before witnessed anything to compare 

 with the countless thousands observed on that evening. 



As far back as 1814 another remarkable swarm was recorded by 

 the captain of a hulk lying in the Medway, who noticed something 

 black floating down the river with the tide. A boat was sent off, and 

 a bucket full of the suspicious matter brought on board, when it was 

 found that the floating substance was a mass of Avinged ants. The 

 report states that the living mass was about five or six miles long, 

 eight or ten feet broad, and six inches thick (Kirby and Spence, 

 Introduction, ii., p. 53). We have never heard of any other 

 instance of living winged ants being transported by water. Gatcombe 

 vouches {Ent., vii., p. 283), however, for the fact that, on August 20th, 

 1874, a yacht cruising off the Longships' Lighthouse, on the 

 coast of Cornwall, about seven or eight miles from Falmouth, sailed 

 through millions upon millions of winged ants, and that the sea was, 

 for a long distance, black with them, indeed, the men on board 

 amused themselves for a long time in dipping them up in buckets, 

 and that the waves thrown off from her bow in dividing the water were 

 black instead of white." At the same time {loc. cit., p. 234) Gatcombe 



