EPHEMERA. 
375 
shower of ephemerae, which falling very thick, and 
in an oblique direction, greatly annoyed him by 
striking against his face and flying into his mouth 
and ears. The effect of a candle held in the midst 
of these insects is thus described by this intelli- 
gent observer: The light of the candle occa- 
sioned a spectacle altogether different from any 
thing that can be observed in any kind of meteoro- 
logical shower : it was enchanting when once ob- 
served. The most unobserving of my domestics 
could scarcely ever have been tired of admiring it. 
No astronomic sphere was ever formed so compli- 
cated as it was, nor furnished with so many circular 
zones in every possible direction, having the flame 
of the candle for their common centre. Their 
number appeared to be infinite, having all possible 
degrees of obliquity with respect to each other. 
Each zone was formed by an uninterrupted string 
of ephemerae, which, as if tied together, followed 
each other close in the same line : they seemed to 
form a circular ribbon of silver, deeply indented on 
its edges ; a ribbon formed of equal triangles put 
end to end, so that the angles of those that followed 
were supported by the base of that which preceded, 
the whole moving round with great quickness. 
Ephemerae, whose wings only were then distin- 
guishable, and which circulated around the light, 
formed this appearance. Each of these flies, after 
having described one or two orbits, fell to the earth, 
or into the water, but without having been burned 
by the candle.” 
