igo The Ottawa Naturalist. [December 



three miles out in the Marsh and surrounded by a grove of large 

 willow trees but I have never been able to find a cocoon on any of 

 them. 



In iooo they were particularly abundant and I sent to Ottawa 

 a box of the large cocoons which were spun among the grasses 

 around the base of a small willow tree. Regarding the food of 

 Cecropia, neither I, nor my friend the late Mr. Warren, who used 

 to accompany me on my shooting trips, could find any plants in the 

 neighborhood with berries on them, such as we knew this cater- 

 pillar to feed upon, so we came to the conclusion that the food of 

 the caterpillars must be the leaves of the willows and other small 

 bushes in the neighborhood, 



Since the time when I sent the cocoons, the insect seems to 

 have deserted the locality altogether, for I have hunted the same 

 places on the St. Clair Flats, and particularly on the willow trees 

 but have been unable to secure even a single specimen. 



I was much pleased with the interesting Nature Study article 

 by Mr, Gibson in the October number of the Ottawa Naturalist. 

 Such articles do much to draw the attention of many people who 

 want to know about them, to these beautiful and common things 

 which make excursions into the country so charming. 



John Maughan, Toronto. 



Note. The cocoons sent by Mr. Maughan were of remark- 

 able size: They were for the most part spun among the loose 

 grasses at the base of the willows and many of them measared 4 

 inches long by 2 inches wide. J. Fletcher. 



NOTE ON THE " TEAL WEED " OF ST. CLAIR FLATS. 



By John Maughan, Toronto. 



This plant which has been identified as the Common Floating 

 Pond-weed, Potomogeton nutans, is to be found in all sections of 

 Ontario, and grows in Urge quantities in the bays, channels and 

 ponds in the St Clair Flats, County of Kent, in water from six 

 inches to s,ix feet in depth. Among duck shooters this plant goes 

 by the name of "Teal Weed " from the fact that the Green Winged 

 Teal, Anas Carolinensis, the Blue Winged Teal, Anas dtscors, the 



