APHIDES. 



Oct. 3rd, 1822. THIS morning on rising we found 

 the air completely choked with Aphides. The steps 

 at the house-door, and even the very walls, were 

 black with them. On walking out, myriads alighted 

 upon one's clothes ; and getting also into one's eyes, 

 ears, and nose, proved an intolerable nuisance. In 

 the middle of the day I took a circuit of about three 

 or four miles from home, but found the quantities of 

 these insects the same wherever I went. A friend, 

 too, who arrived from Cambridge, distant about 

 eight miles off, assured us that they were in equal 

 plenty there. Where could these prodigious multi- 

 tudes come from, and whither were they directing 

 their flight ? Such questions are easier asked than 

 answered. It is worth noting that the day was par- 

 ticularly mild and calm for the time of year, and had 

 begun with a fast mizzling rain, which lasted for a 

 considerable part of the morning. At 4 p. M. the 

 thermometer was as high as 64. The wind was 

 easterly, and had blown steadily from that quarter 

 for three or four days previous.* 



caused by insects, see Kirby and Spence (Entom, vol. i. pp. 

 448, 9.) 



* A similar instance of large swarms of Aphides in a state of 

 migration is recorded by White, (Nat. Hist. Lett. LIII. to D. 

 Barr.,) as having occurred at Selborne, Aug. 1, 1785. It is de- 

 serving notice, also, that he particularly mentions that the wind 

 was then "all the day in the easterly quarter." 



