94 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
filled with insect sounds, ranging from the mur- 
mur of invisible gnats and midges to the im- 
petuous whirring of the great Libellule, large 
almost as swallows, and hawking high in air for 
their food. Swift butterflies glance by, moths 
flutter, flies buzz, grasshoppers and katydids 
pipe their shrill notes, sharp as the edges of 
the sunbeams. Busy bees go humming past, 
straight as arrows, express freight trains from 
one blossoming copse to another. Showy wasps 
of many species fume uselessly about, in gallant 
uniforms, wasting an immense deal of unneces- 
sary anger on the sultry universe. Graceful, 
stingless Sphexes and Ichneumon-flies emulate 
their bustle, without their weapons. Delicate 
lady-birds come and go to the milkweeds, spot- 
ted almost as regularly as if nature had decided 
to number the species, like policemen or hack- 
drivers, from one to twenty. Elegant little 
Lepture fly with them, so gay and airy they 
hardly seem like beetles. Phryganez (once 
caddis-worms), lace-flies, and long-tailed Ephe- 
mere flutter more heavily by. On the large 
alder flowers clings the suberb Desmocerus pal- 
fiatus, beautiful as a tropical insect, with his 
steel-blue armor and his golden cloak (pa//ium) 
above his shoulders, grandest knight on this 
Field of the Cloth of Gold. The countless fire- 
flies which spangled the evening mist now only 
