340 OBSERVATIONS ON 



This appearance reconciled me in some measure to the wonder- 

 ful account that Scopoli gives of the quantities emerging from the 

 rivers of Carniola. Their motions are very peculiar, up and down 

 for many yards almost in a perpendicular line. 



SPHYNX OCELLATA.1 



A vast insect appears after it is dusk, flying with a humming 

 noise, and inserting its tongue into the bloom of the honeysuckle ; 

 it scarcely settles upon the plants, but feeds on the wing in the 

 manner of humming birds. 



WILD BEE. 



There is a sort of wild bee frequenting the garden-campion for 

 the sake of its tomentum, which probably it turns to some purpose 

 in the business of nidification. It is very pleasant to see with 

 what address it strips off the pubes, running from the top to the 

 bottom of a branch, and shaving it bare with all the dexterity of 

 a hoop-shaver. When it has got a vast bundle, almost as large as 

 itself, it flies away, holding it secure between its chin and its fore 

 legs.^ 



There is a remarkable hill on the downs near Lewes in Sussex, 

 known by the name of Mount Carbum [Cabum], which over- 

 looks that town, and affords a most engaging prospect of all the 

 country round, besides several views of the sea. On the very 

 summit of this exalted promontory, and amidst the trenches of ite 

 Danish camp, there haunts a species of wild bee, [Anthophora 

 acervorum,^ making its nest in the chalky soil. When people ap- 

 proach the place, these insects begin to be alarmed, and, with a 

 sharp and hostile sound, dash and strike round the heads and faces 

 of intruders. I have often been interrupted myself while con- 

 templating the grandeur of the scenery around me, and have 

 thought myself in danger of being stung. 



1 [The eyed hawk-moth (Smerin/hus ocellatus, L.). The habits of the moth 

 described by White are those of the humming-bird hawk-moth {Macroglossa 

 siellaiarum, L.).] 



2 \Anthidium manicalum, the Carder bee. This bee lines its nest with the down. 

 Fabre gives an account of the habits of several French species of Anthidium in his 

 Souvenirs Entomologiques, torn, iv., p. 119.] 



