368 OBSERVATIONS 



OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 



INSECTS IN GENERAL. 



THE day and night insects occupy the annuals alter- 

 nately : the papilios, muscce, and apes, are succeeded 

 at the close of day by phalanx, earwigs, wood- 

 lice, &c. In the dusk of the evening, when beetles 

 begin to buzz, partridges begin to call: these two cir- 

 cumstances are exactly coincident. 



Ivy is the last flower that supports the hymen- 

 opterous and dipterous insects. On sunny days, 

 quite on to November, they swarm on trees covered 

 with this plant ; and when they disappear, probably 

 retire under the shelter of its leaves, concealing them- 

 selves between its fibres and the trees which it 

 entwines. WHITE. 



This I have often observed, having seen bees and 

 other winged insects swarming about the flowers of 

 the ivy very late in the autumn. MARKWICK. 



Spiders, woodlice, lepismx in cupboards and among 

 sugar, some empedes, gnats, flies of several species, 

 some phaltfnce in hedges, earth-worms, &c. are stir- 

 ring at all times, when winters are mild ; and are of 

 great service to those soft-billed birds that never 

 leave us. 



