232 NATURAL HISTORY. [cH. XV. 



towards which they fly ; and then, again, attracted 

 by the whiteness of the paper, which they evidently 

 mistake for the " viewless air," they rush down to 

 it in the hope of making their escape, sometimes on 

 their backs, just as we see the housefly flying up 

 and down the pane of a window, with its back 

 towards the glass : hence we are not of opinion that 

 this circumstance is sufficient to prove that these 

 insects fly, in general, with their back downwards, 

 as has been supposed by a recent writer, although the 

 analogous case of the boatflies is brought forward in 

 support of such opinion. Indeed, we have no hes- 

 itation in saying that there is no foundation for such 

 a supposition, because we have repeatedly watched 

 swarms of midges hovering over our meadows in 

 an evening after sunset, within a very short dis- 

 tance from our head, and we have distinctly seen 

 that they fly in the ordinary direction, with the back 

 upwards. 



Hence, it appears evident that the gyrations of our 

 two little midges, which might easily be mistaken 

 for a display of their powers of " tripping on the light 

 fantastic toe," are but the result of bewilderment, 

 and consequently afford no proof against the social 

 principle exhibited by their out-of-door brethren; 

 but there is also another circumstance which 

 strongly supports our view of the subject, which we 

 have also noticed, namely, they took not the slight- 

 est notice of each other. Now this is so contrary 

 to the behaviour of the gay, gallant, whiskered chi- 

 ronomus, that we at once conclude that the natural 

 feelings and affections of our little visiters were 

 completely overcome. 



No sooner, however, have we thus, to our own 

 mind at least, settled the cause of the motions of 

 these midges, than our ears are assailed by the piping 

 of an insect which, in the deep stillness of a sum- 

 mer's evening, seems increased to a tenfold degree, 

 and whose motions, on its approach towards us, 



