INSECTS AND VERMES. 437 



EPHEMERA CAUDA BISETA. MAY FLY. 



June 10, 1771. Myriads of May flies appear for the first 

 time on the 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 won- 

 derful 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's day when I observed them. 

 MARKWICK. 



SPHYNX OCELLATA.* 



A vast insect appears after it is dusk, flying with a hum- 

 ming 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, sphinx stella- 

 te I- H in, 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. MARKWICK. 



WILD BEE. 



There is a sort of wild bee frequenting the garden-campion 

 for the sake of its tomentum, which probably it turns to some 



* [Two very distinct species of the Sphingidae are here mentioned 

 the n'rst the eyed hawkmoth, SmerintJin.1 ucellatus; the second the hum- 

 ming-bird hawkmoth, Macroylossa stellatanim. T.B.] 



