87 



On the 24th JuH 1913 I was collecting on the road 

 between Ryde and Christianssæde on the Island of Lolland 

 in Denmark, where I chiefly examined the trees which 

 separated the patchway from the road. It was in the af- 

 ternoon about 4 o'clock with rather hazy sun and very 

 oppressive heat. 



On the south side of one of the trees I observed 

 some small gnats swarming at a distance of about 1^ m 

 from the ground. As far as I could see there was no- 

 thing to attract them, but a closer examination showed 

 howewer, that on the trunk of the tree was sitting a little 

 moth Cldarla didymata L, and that it was this that the 

 gnats were flying after. There were in all f[ve gnats be- 

 longing to a species of the genus Ceratopogon. Suddenly 

 one of the mosquitoes flew down to the moths left front 

 wing and remained sitting there, another followed imme- 

 diatly after and the remainder closed down upon the moth. 

 When they were quite close to it, I thought that I could 

 take the whole swarm in a collecting glass, but unfortu- 

 nately It was a little to early, as three of the mosquitoes 

 escaped when I put the glass to the trunk, and only the 

 two, which were already on the moth, remained. These 

 afterwards prooved to be two females. With a little 

 difficulty I got the moth to drop from the bark, so that 

 it slipped into my glass. With the shaking one of the 

 mosquitoes gave up its hold and flew round in the glass, 

 whilst the other, which had first attacked the moth, remai- 

 ned fast. It sat in the middle of the moths wing with 

 its mouthparts attached to the wing and had a very firm 

 hold. I shook the glass so that the moth, which feined 

 death, slid up and down, but this did not have the effect 

 of making the mosquito let go, neither would it let go 

 when I turned the glass upside down, so that the moth 

 fell the whole length of the glass. I put the glass in my 

 pocket and took it up again after a few minutes, but the 

 mosquito was still fastened to the wing. Afterwards I put the 



