186 THEIR NUMBERS. 



dancing a varied, yet not irregular figure, and per- 

 forming, what a master of ceremonies would describe 

 as like to that part of the Lancer quadrille, when the 

 gentlemen turn off to the left, and the ladies to the 

 right, meet at the lower end of the room, and advance 

 again to their former stations. There was, however, 

 this difference, that all the dancers on this occasion 

 were what the master would call " les cavaliers," for 

 "les dames," among the Diptera, are never known to 

 partake of such amusements. 



Sometimes, those tiny beings appear like clouds 

 rising and falling in the air, or presenting, above 

 plantations of trees, the aspect of wreaths of smoke 

 ascending from the chimney of a cottage. Such is 

 the appearance presented in the evening by Culex 

 detritus, a species which was undescribed, until 

 noticed about four miles from this town, by A. H. 

 Haliday, Esq., of Clifden, one of the members of 

 our Natural History Society. During the day, it 

 was observed in multitudes among the sedges on the 

 sea coast.* Any one who, at particular times, has 

 travelled from Crumlin to Antrim, must have observed 

 a similar phenomenon, arising from the myriads of 

 Culicida, TipuUda, and Ephemeridce, which exist in 

 the vicinity of Lough Neagh. 



The occurrence of a similar phenomenon in a 

 * List of Diptera, Ento>nolog>cal Magazine, No. ii. p. 151. 



