HYMEXOPTERA. TEREBRANTTA. 159 



of the British Museum, has kindly sent to the writer, 

 with permission to use it in these pages. 



" Flights of Insects observed on the Sand-hills near 

 Deal. There is, perhaps, no locality with which I am 

 acquainted, more productive of Entomological pheno- 

 mena than the range of Sand-hills that lie between Deal 

 and Sandwich. It is also one of the richest in the 

 number of species of Ooleoptera as well as of Hymen- 

 optera. 



" On these hills towards the end of Autumn, clouds of 

 winged ants may be seen, clouds such as I have never 

 witnessed elsewhere. Such, on one occasion, was the 

 case, about the middle of September last, when myriads 

 of Formicida and Myrmecida filled the air. People were 

 fairly driven off the hills by the multitudinous host. 

 The wind on this occasion was little more than an occa- 

 sional gentle breath from the south. 



" On the turning of the tide a line of Ants was left along 

 the shore at high water mark, which I traced to the 

 extent of two miles. I have no doubt it extended all the 

 way to Shellness, which lies full four miles from Deal. 

 On that morning millions of Ants must have perished on 

 the downs. Occasional assemblages of Cocciuellida in 

 multitudinous hosts are to be seen along the shore ; 

 similar numbers of Curculionedae also occur, the species 

 consisting principally of Silona lineata, S. tibialis, S. 

 hispidula, with a liberal sprinkling of Hypera variabilis, 

 &c. Remarkable as all the above mentioned assemblages 

 certainly are, all that I have previously witnessed was 

 eclipsed one morning towards the end of August last, by 

 the sudden appearance of clouds of the Common Turnip 

 fly, Athalia spinarum. I had walked down to the Sand- 

 hills, for the purpose of bathing, about 10 o'clock in the 



