INSECT YAUIETY. 95 



wheti the giddy delig'ht is past, a circumstance rendered the 

 more singular, as the sole mundane idea o£ their ever-apterous 

 neuters, born from the same parents, is nesting, provision of 

 food, and attendance on the eggs, larvae, and pupae — two in- 

 stincts which if amalgamated in one would doubtless confer 

 high rank on the possessor, had not Nature, in producing 

 the hymenopterous workers, cast them sterile from her labora- 

 tory. In their filmy dances, often noticed in this country 

 on those warm and sultry afternoons that occur from July to 

 September, the males, rising with general impulse, zigzag ob- 

 liquely ; and as the whole column lifts and falls they select their 

 heavier females, who follow and float among them suspended 

 head to wind. Sometimes, according to Kirby, the swarms of 

 a whole district unite their infinite numbers, and, seen at a 

 distance, produce an effect resembling the flashing of an aurora- 

 borealis. The noise emitted by myriads of these creatures does 

 not exceed the hum of a single wasp. The representative White 

 Ants, belonging to the distinct family of Neuroptera, similarly 

 dance, but the males chase and contend for the females after 

 wing'-shedding. 



Many dull-grey flies of the group termed Anthomyiidae, or 

 flower-frequenters, near relatives of our domestic species, move 

 obliquely in bi-sexual dances, during which the males often 

 encounter or seize the female. Thus is enacted the merry 

 sidelong ballet of Ilomalow-yia cunicularis over the testy head 

 of the country visitor, as he lies of a bright morning shaping 

 his dreams and schemes in unison with the sweet air and stilly 

 echoes ; and thus, too, hum its congeners Sea la vis and Ani/iom7/ia 

 7neteorica around the leafy umbrage, and anon over the head of 

 the sweating horse during an afternoon^s round of aristocratic 

 visiting. What charms would not the country mansion be 

 robbed of if deprived of these habitual gambollers in its cheerful 

 rooms and peaceful shadows, and how much wonderment has 

 been unconsciously bestowed on their swinging dance of rivalry 

 and love ! 



But other species, naturally hoverers, or with wings more 

 rectangular form horizontal circular dances. Thus, while the 

 Alpine Hilaria of Loew. has been described as zigzagging in 

 August athwart sunbeam and shadow in the fashion of the 



