8o Poachers and Poaching. 



angles from the carriage, flew to a distance of 

 thirty or forty feet, still keeping pace, and then 

 returned with increased speed and buoyancy to 

 the window. To account for this look at the 

 wings of a fly. Each is composed of an upper 

 and lower membrane, between which the blood- 

 vessels and respiratory organs ramify so as to 

 form a delicate network for the extended wings. 

 These are used with great quickness, and pro- 

 bably six hundred strokes are made per second. 

 This would carry the fly about twenty-five feet, 

 but a seven-fold velocity can easily be attained, 

 making one hundred and seventy-five feet per 

 second, so that under certain circumstances it 

 can outstrip the fleetest racehorse. If a small 

 insect like a fly can outstrip a racehorse, an 

 insect as large as a horse would travel very 

 much faster than a cannon-ball. 



Bees and wasps are even swifter than flies. 

 Here is another actual incident. The present 

 writer has sprinkled individual wasps and bees 

 with rose-coloured powder, and has found that 

 thus handicapped they could with ease keep 

 up w r ith the fastest trains when speeding down 

 11 Shap Summit," one of the steepest gradients in 

 the country. Nor were these carried along in 

 the rush of air caused by the train. They w r ould 

 come in and out of the window, sometimes dis- 

 appearing for a minute or more, but frequently 

 returning again and again. At distances of from 



