96 THE CAUSES WHICH PROPAGATE 



Anthomi/iiflfe, with a brilliant wliite or silvery reflection, due to 

 certain oval, opaque, film-like adjuncts to the hind legs ;* another 

 of this g-enus, the little black CUipes, in May and June swarms 

 and wheels in horizontal circles, with a fitful rush over stagnant 

 water. During July, on grassy ditches in the neighbourhood 

 of London, the male* of the long-legged Dolichopus nobilitatis 

 constantly approaches his female, expanding and vibrating his 

 wings; he then takes repeated aerial circles around her with 

 a buzz, or should a rival alight, the males approach and dash 

 in one another's faces (Plate V., Fig. 1). The males of 

 Cattle Flies {Tahaims, Gasfrus, and C/in/sops), with certain bees 

 {Bomb us, Anfhophora, and 3Ielitta), circle in company, and the 

 latter grapple and contend for the female. According to Huber, 

 the female Hive Bee, at the end of June, when about five days 

 old, issues forth at noon after the males, and, soaring upward, 

 circles horizontally in the air. Male beetles of the Chafer kind 

 [MeloloiitJta) collect in circular dances over trees; and the 

 Midsummer Chafer [RJiizotrogus solstitialis) thus pairs at even- 

 ing. Luminous Serricorns of the Elateridae and Malacoderma 

 form social dances, or collect in spots, and the light is inter- 

 mittent or responsive, indicating love, rivalry, or fear ; for species 

 become luminous on touch, collect at a flambeau, or wing to the 

 torch of a female. Certain Dragon Flies {Calopteryx) live in 

 company; the blue dapple-\\"inged males of the Demoiselle [Virgo) 

 chase backwards and forwards along the same spot at the water''s 

 side in pairs, and the females follow and settle beside them with 

 their wings raised, spectatresses of the sport. 



Lastly, rivalry has momentary ex]Dression in the dances of 

 the white or highly-coloured butterflies, who may be seen rising 

 in air, circling each other vertically, battling or toying. Chief 

 of warriors, the purple-shot males of Apainra fix their throne in 

 the heats of July on the zephyr-fanned summits of the oak wood, 

 from which, on sunny days, these Emperors may be seen mounting 

 upward as far as the eye can reach, battling in air, and eventually 

 descending to the identical sprays from which they started, often 

 with their wing-tips broken by the fray.f Other terrestrial species, 

 as Poli/omniatus, Chri/sopfianus, Pieris, and Lasiommata, appear 



* Kirby, Lettr. XYI. ; Ent. Mo». Mng. Vol. XTV., p. 126. 



t Ent. Week. Intel., 1859, p. 139; Curtis, Brit. Ent., Vol. YII., p. 338, 



