. As we have remarked above that infedts are often conveyed from
one country to another in a very unaccountable manner, I fhalf
here mention an emigration of fmall aphides, which was obferved
in the village of Selborne no longer ago than Augufi the ift, 1785.
At about three o’clock in the afternoon of that day, which was
very hot, the people of this village were furprifed by a fhower of
aphides, or fmother-jlies, which fell in thefe parts. Thofe that
were walking in the ftreet at that jundture found themfelves
covered with thefe infedts, which fettled alfo on the hedges and;
gardens, blackening all the vegetables where they alighted.- My
annuals were difcoloured with them, and: the ftalks of a- bed of
onions were quite coated over for fix days after. Thefe armies-
were then, no doubt, in a ftate of emigration,, and Ihifting their
quarters; and might have come, as far as we know, from the-
great hop-plantations of Kent or Snjfex, the wind being all that day-
in the eafterly quarter. They were obferved at the fame time in-
great clouds about Farnham* and all. along, the vale from.Farnham'
to. Alton
a For various methods by which feveral- infers Ihift their, quarters, fee .Derbam'*>
Phyfico-Theology.
f « ■ »-— - „«A .
— t d -----1— d £ A ƒ .-----■>
L E T T E R LIV.
TO THE SAME.
D E A R SIR,-
W hen I happen to vifit a family where gold and Jilver fijhes are'
kept in a glafs bowl, I am always pleafed with the occurrence,
becaufe it offers me an opportunity of obferving the adlions and
propenfities of thofe beings with whom we can be little acquainted
in their natural date. Not long fince I fpent a fortnight at the
houfe of a friend where there was fuch a vivary, to which 1 paid
no fmall attention, taking every occafion to' remark what paffed
within it’s narrow limits. It was here that I firft obferved the
manner in which fifhes die. As loon as the creature fickens, the
head finks lower and lower, and it Hands as it were on it’s head;
till, getting weaker, and lofin'g all poife, the tail turns over, arid
at laft it floats on the furface of the water wdth it’s belly uppermoft'.
The reafon why fifhes, when dead, fwim in that manner is very
obvious ; becaufe, when the body is no longer balanced by the
fins of the belly, the broad mufcular back preponderates by it’s
own gravity, and turns the* belly uppermoft, as lightet frbtn it s y
being a cavity, and becaufe it contains the fwimmihg-bladders,
which contribute to render it buoyant. Some that delight in gold
and fiher fijhes have adapted a- notion that they need no aliment.
True it is that they will fubfift for a long time without any apparent
food but what they can collect from pure water frequently changed;
yet they muft draw fome fupport from animalcula, and other
nourifhment