n insect TTfsftora. 



over the flower-chalices, the curious coiling and 

 uncoiling of the great suctorial tubes, are a feat- 

 ure in the strange processes of Nature that, once 

 seen, can scarcely be forgotten. 



Miiller, from whom I have already drawn 

 largely on this fascinating subject, referring to 

 the dusk-loving Lepidoptera, explains that the 

 rapid movements always characteristic of this 

 species may be due " to the shortness of the 

 period suitable for their flight, or to the pursuit 

 of bats!' In cases which have come under my 

 own observation, I have noticed that the Sphmgcc 

 appear most numerously at dusk, haunting their 

 favorite flowers with little diminution for about 

 two hours, and apparently decreasing in num- 

 bers as the night advances. Bats, I have repeat- 

 edly noticed, seem most abundant during the 

 early hours of night. Tennyson's passage in 

 " Mariana " 



After the flitting of the bats, 



When thickest dark did trance the sky 



would corroborate this, if the poet meant to 

 italicize the anterior preposition. 



While angling for speckled trout at night in 

 summer, I have observed, where the bats were 

 very numerous, their sudden departure and sub- 

 sequent appearance, at perhaps quite long inter- 



