214 THE entomologist's record. 



about the electric lights ou the hillsides, and further down in the 

 valley the lights were frequented only by lepidoptera. Looking from 

 the hillsides, a cloudy phosphorescence was seen to extend over the 

 city in an irregular sheet with here and there patches and protuberances 

 rising high above the common mass." " Comparing the position of 

 this cloud at different times, from seven until ten o'clock, it was 

 evident that the maximum density was moving northward, i.e., in 

 the same direction that the insects moved in the early part of the 

 evening. There was no perceptible moisture in the air, and the 

 appearance of the cloud must have been caused by the reflection of 

 the city lights upon the glossy wing of these insects." Professor 

 Saunders states {loc. cit., p. 181) that a very similar cloud to that 

 described above passed over Alfred Centre, a village about twelve miles 

 southwest of Hornellsville, on the evening of August 6th, i.e., eleven 

 days before the previous swarm was noticed. The insects forming the 

 cloud were "ants with deciduous wings, so that, after the cloud had 

 passed, their wings were found very abundantly scattered over the ground . ' ' 

 This cloud made its appearance about sunset and had passed over 

 by dark. It came from a steep hill overlooking the town, and swept 

 across the town in a narrow belt, leaving the upper and lower parts 

 unmolested. Other clouds of insects had been observed by Professor 

 Saunders in Florida during the same year, and he states that the 

 inhabitants there are quite familiar with them. A rather remarkable 

 cloud which he particularly observed in the month of May at Sisco, 

 Florida, was composed of large insects with very glossy wings. The 

 cloud began to form about eight o'clock in the morning and lasted 

 half an hour. The insects seemed to rise from a flat meadow densely 

 overgrown with grass. They ascended to an altitude of about twenty 

 feet, and continued the rest of their course in a horizontal direction. 

 The cloud seems to have been confined chiefly to a twenty acre lot 

 and did not pass to adjacent parts. It was a warm bright day, and 

 the reflection of light upon their wings gave the cloud a striking 

 appearance. Their wings were deciduous and the neighbouring 

 pools were pretty well covered with them. One suspects that this 

 last record may refer to termites and not true ants. 



May at the Italian Lakes. 



By T. A. CHAPMAN, M.D., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 

 Arriving at Brunnen, on the Lake of Lucerne, at the end of the 

 first week in May, intending to stay there some time, we found the 

 weather, which had been fine and warm as evidenced by the state of 

 vegetation, had fallen into the same wintery phase as appears to have 

 prevailed at that time over England and most of the west of Europe, 

 and so, at the end of a week, things looking hopeless, a move was 

 made to Locarno, where, for nearly a month, fine and sometimes 

 summery weather was almost continuous. Cold and snow continued 

 with thick downfall to Goeschenen ; at Airolo all was bright and fine. 

 At r>runnen, Microptcrtix aiinncuuila was on the wing on May 7th 

 and 13th, two or three Leiitidia sinaj)is ventuved out during a few fine 

 minutes on the 10th, on the 12th Nt'iiieobiiis Incuia was flying, and a 

 large ? Afilia tan, who appeared to have laid all her eggs, was found 

 at rest on a beech tree at Axenstrasse, though snow was thick on the 



