September 6th, I find the following note to the article, Flying Ants: I saw a prodigious swarm of these ants flying about the top of some tall elm trees close by my house: some were continually dropping to the ground as if from the trees, and others rising up from the ground: many of them were joined together in copulation: and I imagine their life is but short; for as soon as produced from the egg by the heat of the sun, they propagate their species, and soon after perish. They were black, somewhat like the small black ant, and had four wings. I saw, also, at another place, a large sort, which were yellowish. On the 8th of September, 1785, I again observed the same circumstance of a vast number of these insects flying near the tops of the elms, and dropping to the ground. On the 2nd of March, 1777, I saw great numbers of ants come out of the ground. MARKWICK. GLOW-WORMS. By observing two glow-worms, which were brought from the field to the bank in the garden, it appeared to us that these little creatures put out their lamps between eleven and twelve, and shine no more for the rest of the night. Male glow-worms, attracted by the light of the candles, come into the parlour. WHITE. EARTH-WORMS.-Earth-worms make their casts most in mild weather, about March and April; they do not lie torpid in winter, but come forth when there is no frost; they travel about in rainy nights, as appears from their sinuous tracks on the soft muddy soil, perhaps in search of food. When earth-worms lie out a-nights on the turf, though they extend their bodies a great way, they do not quite leave their holes, but keep the ends of their tails fixed therein, so that, on the least alarm, they can retire with precipitation under the earth.* Whatever food falls within their reach * I have observed the same fact with respect to eels in Windermere lake, Westmoreland. On a perfectly calm day, while in a boat, I have seen eels, with the ends of their tails remaining in their holes, slide back into them, like earth-worms, on being disturbed.--ED. when thus extended, they seem to be content with,—such as blades of grass, straws, fallen leaves, the ends of which they often draw into their holes; even in copulation, their hinder parts never quit their holes: so that no two, except they lie within reach of each other's bodies, can have any commerce of that kind; but, as every individual is an hermaphrodite, there is no difficulty in meeting with a mate as would be the case were they of different sexes. WHITE. SNAILS AND SLUGS.-The shell-less snails called slugs are in motion all the winter, in mild weather, and commit great depredations on garden plants, and much injure the green wheat, the loss of which is imputed to earth-worms; while the shelled snail, the pepeoikos, does not come forth at all till about April 10th, and not only lays itself up pretty early in autumn, in places secure from frost, but also throws out round the mouth of its shell a thick operculum formed from its own saliva; so that it is perfectly secured, and corked up, as it were, from all inclemencies. The cause why the slugs are able to endure the cold so much better than shell-snails is, that their bodies are covered with slime, as whales are with blubber.* Snails copulate about midsummer; and soon after deposit their eggs in the mould, by running their heads and bodies under ground. Hence, the way to be rid of them is, to kill as many as possible before they begin to breed. Large, gray, shell-less cellar snails lay themselves up about the same time with those that live abroad; hence, it is plain that a defect of warmth is not the only cause that influences their retreat. WHITE. SNAKE'S SLOUGH. There the snake throws her enamell'd skin. SHAKSPEARE, Mids. Night's Dream. About the middle of this month (September) we found, in a field near a hedge, the slough of a large snake, which seemed to have been newly cast. From circumstances, it appeared as if turned wrong side outward, and as drawn off The slug is covered with a much thicker slime than the shelled snail.-ED. backward, like a stocking, or woman's glove.* Not only the whole skin, but scales from the very eyes, are peeled off, and appear in the head of the slough like a pair of spectacles. The reptile, at the time of changing his coat, had entangled himself intricately in the grass and weeds, so that the friction of the stalks and blades might promote this curious shifting of his exuvia"Lubrica serpens Exuit in spinis vestem."-LUCRET. Smooth serpents that in thickets leave their skin. It would be a most entertaining sight, could a person be an eyewitness to such a feat, and see the snake in the act of changing his garment. As the convexity of the scales of the eyes in the slough is now inward, that circumstance alone is a proof that the skin has been turned: not to mention that now the present inside is much darker than the outer. If you look through the scales of the snake's eyes from the concave side, viz. as the reptile used them, they lessen objects much. Thus it appears, from what has been said, that snakes crawl out of the mouth of their own sloughs, and quit the tail part last, just as eels are skinned by a cook-maid. While the scales of the eyes are growing loose, and a new skin is forming, the creature, in appearance, must be blind, and feel itself in an awkward, uneasy situation. WHITE. I have seen many sloughs, or skins of snakes, entire, after they have cast them off; and once, in particular, I remember to have found one of these sloughs so intricately interwoven amongst some brakes, that it was with difficulty removed without being broken: this undoubtedly was done by the creature to assist in getting rid of its encumbrance. I have great reason to suppose that the eft, or common lizard, also casts its skin, or slough, but not entire like the snake; for, on the 30th of March, 1777, I saw one with something ragged hanging to it, which appeared to be part of its old skin. MARKWICK. * "The snake, renew'd in all his speckled pride Erect, and brandishing his forked tongue." DRYDEN.-ED. |