ENTOMOLOGICAL CABINET. 



exceed the hum of a single wasp. The slightest 

 zephyr disperses them ; and if in their progress they 

 chance to he over your head, if you walk slowly on, 

 they will accompany you and regulate their motion 

 by yours. The females continue sailing majestically 

 in the centre of these numberless males, who are 

 all candidates for their favour, each till some for- 

 tunate lover darts upon her, and, as the Roman 

 youth did by the Sabine virgins, drags his bride from 

 the sportive crowd, and the nuptials are consum- 

 mated in mid-air ; though sometimes the union 

 takes place on the summit of plants, but rarely in 

 the nests." 



Of the astonishing numbers that occasionally 

 swarm, the following extract from a letter of Dr. 

 Bromley to Mr. Mac Leay will be interesting. 



" In September 1814, being on the deck of the 

 hulk to the Clorinde, my attention was drawn to the 

 water by the first Lieutenant (now Captain Haver- 

 field) observing there was something black floating 

 down with the tide. On looking with a glass, I dis- 

 covered they were insects. The boat was sent, and 

 brought a bucket full of them on board; — they 

 proved to be a large species of ant, and extended 

 from the upper part of Saltpan Reach out towards 

 the Great Nore, a distance of five or six miles. The 

 column appeared to be in breadth eight or ten feet 

 and in height about six inches, which 1 suppose must 

 have been from their resting one upon another." 



