96 INSECTS. 



houses. The following extract from the letter of a cor- 

 respondent of the Times, in August, 1869, may be inte- 

 resting to the reader: 



"During the 14th, 15th, and 16th of this month 

 countless multitudes of the little red beetles appeared 

 upon the coasts of Kent and Sussex. The numbers 

 composing these swarms are utterly inconceivable to 

 those who did not see them. They were most numerous 

 close to the shore tens of thousands perished in the sea 

 near the land. The beaches, piers, and houses near the 

 shore were covered by the swarms, and in many places 

 the streets and roads looked as if strewn by dark red 

 gravel. This extended far inland, and on Sunday, the 

 15th, myriads were seen in London and its neighbour- 

 hood. But, as I have said, the largest assemblages by 

 far were on the east coast, especially at the points nearest 

 to the Continent. This, be it remembered, occurred at 

 a time when there was a continuous east wind. 



" On the Sunday in question a scientific friend of mine, 

 a Fellow of the Koyal Society, well qualified to observe 

 and record facts of natural history, was fortunate to wit- 

 ness the actual arrival of one of these swarms. When 

 walking on Dover Pier, after morning service, he observed 

 an enormous multitude of these insects, like a cloud, 

 coming over the sea as if from Calais. They were flying 

 from east to west. Large numbers fell into the water, 

 others covered the pierhead as with a red carpet, but the 

 great mass flew on westward, and, as they passed over- 

 head, looked to those who gazed upwards like the inter- 

 minable flakes of a thick snowstorm as seen from below. 

 A member of my friend's family had seen a similar occur- 

 rence the same morning, when, as she expressed it, the 

 little beetles flew against the east-looking windows of 



