MR. BOLD's notes, ETC. 341 



which mounting on wing, scatter themselves far and wide, on 

 the important mission of continuing their species ; the females 

 depositing their eggs on the stems of such plants as are suited to 

 the tastes of the young broods which appear in spring. 



They (the Aphides) were first noticed near Newcastle, in the 

 last week in August, and kept increasing in numbers until the 

 middle of September, when they began to diminish ; their ranks 

 about that time being much thinned by heavy rain, accompanied 

 by some brisk winds ; but a warm, still, sunny day, during the 

 remainder of the month, and in October, never failed to bring 

 out its legions. However, we had sharp frosts at the close of the 

 latter month, which put a period to their lingering existence. 



When " the plague of flies " was at its worst, the streets and 

 lanes were filled by the dense multitudes, which borne along by 

 the breeze, clung to the unfortunate wayfarers, and covered them 

 as with a sooty mantle, causing exceeding annoyance by the 

 tickling of their feet on exposed portions of the skin, and filling 

 both eyes and mouth, if incautiously opened. Some days they 

 were in such dense masses, that it was absolutely necessary to 

 cover the face with gauze, or a pocket-handkerchief. In the 

 country, you saw people waving a leafy branch before their faces 

 as they walked along the more sheltered lanes. 



Buildings and other places, then in course of being painted, 

 are to this day speckled by the corpses of those which the winds 

 carried against their adhesive surfaces. On windy days, it was 

 curious to observe them congregated by thousands on the ends 

 of door steps, or behind any jutting prominence that sheltered 

 them from the breeze j. Country people likened such gatherings 

 to " swarms" of bees. 



They were noticed in Edinburgh, Berwick, Belford, Alnwick, 

 Morpeth, Newcastle, Shields, Sunderland, Durham, and further 

 south, but in diminished numbers. East and west they appear 

 to have extended in a dense mass from sea to sea. 



The great majority of the myriads in our vicinity consisted of 

 Aphis Rumicis, most probably migrants from the fields of beans, 

 which I had previously noticed to be much infested by that 

 species. They appear, however, to have an almost omnivorous 



VOL. IT. PT. IV. 2 X 



