278 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. IX. 



pairs, each pair seeking its particular retreat in the 

 woods, where they wait till morning." Of all perching 

 birds, the family of parrots are the most social ; and 

 this is one of the innumerable analogies by which they 

 represent the domestic Rasores and the ruminating 

 quadrupeds. 



(293.) But this disposition to unite in parties of 

 pleasure is much more conspicuous in the insect world. 

 Every one must have remarked the little black shining 

 beetles so frequently seen on the surface of ponds and 

 clear ditches, particularly on a warm spring day, wheel- 

 ing round and round, in and out of a circle, in every 

 possible variety of figure, yet never impeding each 

 other, however crowded their numbers : these are of 

 the genus Gyrinus Lin., and are usually called whirl- 

 beetles or whirlwigs : they seem to have no other ob- 

 ject in this animated dance upon the waters, than mere 

 pastime, - for they are never seen, on such occasions, to 

 pursue other insects for their prey, although they are 

 known to be carnivorous. But of all assemblies of joy- 

 ous insects, none are more beautiful or more animated 

 than the innumerable tribes of gnats which assemble on 

 the evening of a bright sunny day, even when the earth 

 is covered with snow. While we contemplate their 

 intricate and rapid evolutions, rising and falling, each 

 threading the compact maze made by its companions, 

 we cannot but feel a portion of this animal pleasure 

 reflected upon our own minds. " To see these little 

 airy beings apparently so full of joy and life, and feeling 

 the entire force of the social principle even in that 

 dreary season when the whole animal world appears to 

 suffer, and the rest of the insect world is torpid, always 

 conveys to my mind the most agreeable sensation." " 

 The different Ephemera, or day flies, unite themselves 

 in a similar way into assemblies of innumerable indi- 

 viduals, often so abundant as to resemble little moving 

 clouds alternately rising and falling in the air. Kirby 

 and Spence describe a spectacle of this kind, witnessed 



* Int. to Ent. vol. ii. p. 4. 



