MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 311 



{Nj/cleribia VespertiHonis, Latr.), is still more remark- 

 able for its swiftness. Its legs, as appears from the ob- 

 servations of Colonel Montague, are fixed in an unusual 

 position on the upper side of the trunk. " It trans- 

 ports itself," to use the words of the gentleman just 

 mentioned, " with such celerity, from one part of the 

 animal it inhabits, to the opposite and most distant, 

 although obstructed by the extreme thickness of the 



fur, that it is not readily taken." " When two or 



three were put into a small phial, their agility appeared 

 inconceivably great; for, as their feet are incapable of 

 fixing upon so smooth a body, their whole exertion was 

 employed in laying hold of each other; and in this 

 most curious struggle they appeared actually flying in 

 circles : and when the bottle was reclined, they would 

 frequently pass from one end to the other with asto- 

 nishing velocity, accompanied by the same gyrations : 

 if by accident they escaped each other, they very soon 

 became motionless : and as quickly were the whole put 

 in motion again by the least touch of the bottle, or the 

 movement of an individual^. — Incredibly great also is 

 the rapidity with which a little reddinh mite, with two 

 black dots on the anterior part of its back (Gama- 

 sus Baccaru?n, F.), common upon strawberries, moves 

 along. Such is the velocity with which it runs, that it 

 appears rather to glide or fly than to use its legs. 



When insects walk or run, their legs are not the only 

 members that are put in motion. They will not, or 

 rather cannot, stir a step till their antennae are removed 

 from their station of repose and set in action. When 

 the chafers {ScarabceidcB) are about to move, these 



^ Linn. Trans, si. i3. 



