Indicator ial Calendar. 195 



Fishes. — The finny inhabitants of rivers and lakes may be seen variously 

 employed, watching their prey, basking in the sunshine, or roving about in 

 shoals. The springing trout rises in the air to catch the passing fly, and the 

 voracious pike darts like an arrow from his lurking-place, among the heed- 

 less fry of minor fish. Of these and sea-fish, the following are in season for 

 the next two months : viz. 



Salmon, .Salmo A'alar L, Gurnard, Trlgla cuculus L. 



Salmon-trout, S. trutta L. Sturgeon, ^cip^nser stiirio L. 



Trout, S. FdiVio L. Whiting, Gadus merlangus L. 



John Dor^e, Zeus i<'aber L. Haddock, G. aeglefinus L. 



Turbot, Pleuronectes maximus L. White-bait, Cyprinus, sp. ? i. 



Mullet, il/ullus Surmiiletus L. With other common fresh-water 



Mackerel, 5c6mber ^Scomber, LS fish. 



Of Crustacea^ the lobster, crab, crawfish, prawn, and shrimps, are brought 

 to market, with two or three sorts of buccineum. 



The Insect tribes, which at this time sport in the sunbeam, visit the 

 flowers and tender leaves, or crawl on the surface of the ground, are in- 

 numerable. By day, the gaudy butterflies add life and variety of colours 

 even to the parterre. Among them the following are the most conspicuous : — 

 The swallow-tailed Papllio Machaow, Peacock, Grand Admiral, Orange-tip, 

 Marble, Tortoise-shell, Blue Argus. 



By night, the no less splendid family of moths are on wing, but can only 

 be admired when they happen to be disturbed from their retreats by 

 day. The elephant-hawk-moth is a beautiful type of the sphinx family. 

 Beetles, in their metallic-coloured mail, are seen on flowers, on foliage, or 

 on our paths. The stag, tree, hoary, and rose beetles, are met with in gar- 

 dens; and the variously-marked lady-birds are everywhere, if the green 

 aphides are prevalent. The splendid green cicindella flits before us on dry 

 paths ; and many others of this curious tribe. Of the family of bees all are 

 in full enjoyment at this time; the mason-bee is one of the most curious; 

 unlike some of its congeners, its abode is solitary ; the habitation built by itself 

 appears like a patch of mud stuck into a small hollow, on the face of a 

 wall. Within this are chambers, lined with leaves, and containing one egg, 

 which, becoming a maggot, lives on the store provided by the mother, 

 changes to a chrysalis, and comes forth a perfect insect in the follow- 

 ing spring. The dragon-flies are also an interesting tribe of insects ; their 

 four transparent and ample wings, their lengthened, slender shape, and 

 curious mailed structure and colours, and their habits of hovering over 

 ponds and banks of rivers, where they are bred, sufficiently point them out 

 to the notice of the naturalist. The largest of the genus known in this 

 country is the Libelhila grandis. This magnificent insect may be often 

 observed in shady walks or lanes, darting with astonishing velocity after 

 every fly that passes, and on which he preys. The house-fly (ilf usca dom^s- 

 tica) does not enter houses till the wet or cold of autumn drives them in ; 

 but there is another fly which, exteriorly, much resembles it, and which is 

 often troublesome in the ensuing months ; this is the Stomoxys calcitrans, 

 or stinging fly, one of the greatest plagues to cattle^ as well as to persons 

 wearing thin stockings. The invisible harvest bug (A'carus iiicinus), the 

 common gnat, and musquito, are also troublesome to those whose delicate 

 skin may be exposed to their unsuspected attack. Young frogs change 

 from their tadpole state. 



The Vegetable Kingdom is now in full developement; the ripening corn, 

 and the fertile fruit-trees bending under their swelling burthens, are, toge- 

 ther, the effects and the reward of industry, and the offspring of the by- 

 gone months. The garden glows with all the tribe of annual flowers ; a few 

 perennials still adorn the flower-borders, which need not here be named. 

 Those who admire and find amusement in searching for the spontaneous 



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