JUNE. 69 



amber silk ; with a few fibres of red brown mohair 

 wrought in at the the breast, for legs ; wings, slips 

 from the light brown web of a feather in the snipe 

 or starling's wing. 



The red ant fly plants her colony on the ground, in 

 or near woods, and often on the sloping banks of 

 rivers and small streams, in dry and sheltered places ; 

 there they find protection and materials for building 

 their City ; which is composed of small pieces of dried 

 sticks, straws, stones, and dead leaves, etc , which they 

 form into mounds or beds, with passages into the in- 

 terior, extending the suburbs as the citizens increase. 

 There are several beds in Mackershaw, on the Skell; 

 and in Magdalen's wood opposite Hackfall, on the 

 Ure. Their sizes vary in different situations ; the 

 largest are found in the dells and sheltered places on 

 the edges of the moors. Near Mr. Calvert's stone 

 quarry, in Skellgill, there are several beds, and the ants 

 are larger than those below. The winged portion begin 

 to leave their colony next month, in vast swarms ; the 

 country people sometimes see them take wing, on warm 

 sultry days, which, they say, is prognostic of wet wea- 

 ther. They are a marvellous insect ; the Supreme has 

 written their everlasting laws, which they all instinc- 

 tively obey ; and the power that entailed labour upon 

 them, made that labour voluntary. There is a large 

 bed just within the low fence of the plantation in Mall 

 White, well worth the walk to see. The scriptural man- 

 date : " Go to the Ant, etc." may be applied generally, for 

 as well as their lessons of industry they cannot but 

 create the most lively feelings of admiration and won- 

 der in all who behold them. 



