i^yig 321 



The first great flight of C. argyropus occurred on September 19th of 

 last year, in the Little river district of Canterbury, about eighteen miles 

 from Christchurch. The " Lyttleton Times," in describing the great 

 swarm, stated that the excursion train which went to Little on the day 

 of its occurrence, "passed through a wall of mosquitos or midges, 

 three-quarters of a mile in length, twenty feet high, and eighteen inches 

 thick ;" about the same time I observed other unusually large flights 

 in this district, but certainly nothing to compare with the one at Little 

 river. In discussing the causes of these abnormal swarms, which 

 appear at varying intervals of years in New Zealand, I attributed their 

 great numbers and much earlier appearance in the season to the 

 previous mild winter, and to the calm, moist, and warm weather which 

 prevailed at the time ; undoubtedly, drizzling, warm rains, with flashes 

 of hot sunshine, are peculiarly adapted to the life-habits of the larvae 

 and to the rapid development of CuJex. 



Tipula novarcE, Schiner. — On January 15th of the present year, I 

 was across the Ashburton river at Tinwald village, and noticed immense 

 numbers of this species entangled in spiders' webs attached to trees 

 and gorse hedges, and in still pools in the Tinwald domain, although 

 many of them were dead, great numbers were flying about, or were 

 moving slowly through the grass, or on the gorse fences, while a con- 

 siderable number were resting, or moving slowly about i)i copula. 

 Their occurrence in such vast numbers together is certainly pheno- 

 menal, in fact, no doubt due to the exceptionally hot, calm season, 

 such being peculiarly favourable to the development of the larvae, and 

 to the assembling of the delicate imagos in large numbers, such, in 

 many cases, would produce a favourable selection, and also produce a 

 considerable renewal- in numbers of the species. 



Tetramorium nitidum, 8mith. — Before the time for the swarming^ 

 and migration of this minute species of ant, I wrote to several friends 

 living in different parts of Canterbury, requesting them to keep a 

 strict look out for any large flights of insects that were likely to appear 

 in their districts, at the same time asking them if such occurred, to 

 capture a few specimens and send them to me. From two corres- 

 pondents, living thirteen miles apart, I have received some specimens 

 of T. iiilidum, together with some interesting letters describing two 

 large swarms : on March 2nd, a great flight was observed near the 

 Eangitata Gorge, and on the 10th another occurred at Mount Somers ; 

 on the 12th, I observed a small swarm near Ashburton ; but it is only 

 in the more sparsely settled districts, or such as have not been 



