IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. / 



Rape of the Loclc^ seems to have witnessed the pleasing 

 scene here described. 



*' Some to the sun (heir insect wings unfold, 

 Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold ; 

 Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, 

 Their fluid bodies half dissolv'd in light; 

 Loose to the wind their airy garments fleflr, 

 Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew, 

 Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, 

 Where light disports in ever mingling dyes. 

 While every beam new transient colours flings, 

 Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings." 



I wish you may have the good fortune next year to 

 be a spectator of this all but celestial dance. In the 

 mean time, in May and June, their season of love, you 

 may often receive much gratification from observing' 

 the motions of a countless host of little black flies of 

 the genus Empis, which at this period of the year as- 

 semble to wheel in aery circles over stagnant waters, 

 with a rush resembling that of a hasty shower driven 

 by the wind. 



The next description of insect associations is of those 

 that congregate for the purpose of travelling or emi- 

 grating together. De Geer has given an account of 

 the larvae of certain gnats (Tipulce^ L.) which assemble 

 in considerable numbers for this purpose, so as to form 

 a band of a finger's breadth, and of from one to two 

 yards in length. And, what is remarkable, while upon 

 their march, which is very slow, they adhere to each 

 other by a kind of glutinous secretion ; but when dis- 

 turbed they separate without difficulty*. Kuhn men- 



•De Gcer, vi. 338.- 



