340 OBSEETATIOIfS ON INSECTS AND TERME3. 



Alresford stream. The air was crowded with them, and tl 

 surface of the water covered. Large trouts sucked them i 

 as they lay struggling on the surface of the stream, unab. 

 to rise till their wings were dried. 



This appearance reconciled me in some measure to tl 

 wonderful account that Scopoli gives of the quantiti( 

 emerging from the rivers of Carniola. Their motions ai 

 very pe,culiar, up and do'mi for many yards almost in 

 perpendicular Une. White. 



I once saw a swarm of these insects playing up and dow 

 over the surface of a pond in Denn park, exactly in tl 

 manner described by this accurate naturalist. It was late i 

 the evening of a warm summer day when I observed them. 



Maeewick. 



Sphtnx Ocellata. — A vast iasect appears after it : 

 dusk, flying with a humming noise, and inserting its tongu 

 into the bloom of the honeysuckle ; it scarcely settles upo 

 the plants, but feeds on the wing in the manner of humming 

 Jbirds. "White. 



I have frequently seen the large bee-moth* {spliynx ste 

 iatarum) inserting its long tong^ie, or proboscis, into th 

 centre of flowers, and feeding on their nectar without settlin 

 on them, but keeping constantly on the wing. 



Maek:wick. 



"Wild Bee.! — There is a sort of wild bee frequenting th 

 garden-campion for the sake of its tomentum, which probabl 

 it turns to some purpose in the business of nidification. I 



* This sphynx may almost to thought to be a link between the hiimmins 

 bird and an insect. It is very wild and by no means common in my ow 

 neighbourhood. — Ed. 



"t The mention of bees reminds me of the following pleasing lines < 

 Pope : — 



" The happy bees that with the spring renew 

 Their flowery toil, and sip the fragrant dew, 

 When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky, 

 0*er dusky fields and shaded waters fly, 

 Or settling, seize the sweets the blossom yields 

 And a low murmur runs along the fields." — Ed. 



