LEPIDOPTERA OF NORTH AMERICA. 916 



Lepidoptera of the United States had been described ; that 

 our English collections were very sparingly furnished with 

 them, especially with the nocturnal ones, and I found them 

 far more numerous and easy of capture than any of the other 

 orders. The bias thus given, continued throughout my jour- 

 ney of more than 8,000 miles, though I by no means allowed 

 it to cause me to neglect other orders. 



The first place, as I have said, which I chose for a hunting 

 ground, was the vicinity of Trenton Falls. It is not my in- 

 tention to tell of the waterfalls, nor the deep ravine, whose 

 rocky sides are overhung with gigantic trees, or adorned with 

 flowers innumerable, nor to describe the beautiful banks of 

 the West Canada Creek, as it flows onward to join the Mo- 

 hawk, nor of the wood- clothed hills, from whose summit the 

 traveller may survey a country as fair as God has ever created 

 for man to dwell in ; nor may I here tell of the kindness that I, 

 a solitary wanderer, far from my home, met with in this place, 

 nor of the delightful society to be found during the summer 

 amongst the visitors to the Falls. I could let my pen run 

 wild on these subjects, but I will confine myself to what more 

 properly belongs to natural history, and that part thereof on 

 which I am now treating, and merely state what was the soil, 

 what the vegetation, what the local peculiarities, of the spot 

 in which I first collected in America. 



The town ' of Trenton (formerly Olden Barnevelt), is situ- 

 ated about fourteen miles north of Utica, in latitude 43° 20' 

 N., longitude 75° 10' W., or thereabouts- The town itself 

 is of considerable extent, containing about 16,000 acres un- 

 der cultivation, and a population of between 3,000 and 4,000. 

 A large portion of the land is still wooded, and the gradual 

 improvement of this gives employ to a good many sawmills; 

 fourteen, I believe, are in being within the town, though some 

 have evidently declined working for some time. The com- 

 mon mode of clearing is, first to cut down the larger trees, 

 and then stub up the brushwood, leaving the stumps of the 

 trees to decay out of the ground. If the bushes are not cut 

 up, as they often are not, until the year following the cutting 

 down of the trees, the ground becomes covered with brambles, 

 raspberries, &c., with a variety of flowers, though these are 

 not so numerous in such places as might be expected. 



Mr. Moore's house is situated on the verge of the town, 

 close to the West Canada Creek, about two miles from the 

 village of Trenton. Its elevation above the sea is full 1 ,200 



' The word town, in New York, means nearly the same as parish in 

 England. 

 Vol. TV.— No. 41. n. s. 2 c 



