340 OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 



Alresford stream. The air was crowded with them, and the 

 surface of the water covered. Large trouts sucked them in 

 as they lay struggling on the surface of the stream, unable 

 to rise till their wings were dried. 



This appearance reconciled me in some measure to the 

 wonderful account that Scopoli gives of the quantities 

 emerging from the rivers of Carniola. Their motions are 

 very peculiar, up and down for many yards almost in a 

 perpendicular line. WHITE. 



I once saw a swarm of these insects playing up and down 

 over the surface of a pond in Denn park, exactly in the 

 manner described by this accurate naturalist. It was late in 

 the evening of a warm summer day when I observed them. 



MARKWICK. 



SPHYNX OCELLATA. A vast insect appears after it is 

 dusk, flying with a humming noise, and inserting its tongue 

 into the bloom of the honeysuckle ; it scarcely settles upon 

 the plants, but feeds on the wing in the manner of humming- 

 birds. WHITE. 



I have frequently seen the large bee-moth* (sphynx stel- 

 latarum) inserting its long tongue, or proboscis, into the 

 centre of flowers, and feeding on their nectar without settling 

 on them, but keeping constantly on the wing. 



MABKWICK. 



BEE.f There is a sort of wild bee frequenting the 

 garden-campion for the sake of its tomentum, which probably 

 it turns to some purpose in the business of nidification. It 



* This sphynx may almost be thought to be a link between the humming- 

 bird and an insect. It is very wild and by no means common in my own 

 neighbourhood. ED. 



f* The mention of bees reminds me of the following pleasing lines of 

 Pope : 



" The happy bees that with the spring renew 

 Their flowery toil, and sip the fragrant dew, 

 When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky, 

 O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly, 

 Or settling, seize the sweets the blossom yields 

 And a low murmur runs along the fields." ED. 



