IQOl] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 2OI 



that part of the country. There was no severe cold, no 

 freezing weather such as sometimes visits that semi-tropical 

 clime, described in hotel circulars and land companies' adver- 

 tisements as "beyond the frost line." But we had day after 

 day of chilly, cloudy weather, generally with high winds. 

 Our evenings were shivery, and our nights so cold that one 

 found an extra blanket comfortable. Now, Florida insects are 

 very susceptible to changes in temperature ; much more than 

 are our hardy northern ones. In Franconia I have often taken 

 Lepidoptera when the mercury was below 50. In South 

 Florida it is an exceptionally bold insect that ventures out 

 when the temperature is lower than 65. So I found all orders 

 of insects very scarce. Even the proverbially unseeing pleas- 

 ure tourist noticed and commented upon the absence of butter- 

 flies. And as for the few entomologists who came that way 



well, I know that one at least, a man well known to all 

 readers of the NEWS, a good collector and charming compan- 

 ion, used some very strong language in speaking of the 

 scarcity of insect life at Miami this season. I think he said 



or berhaps only implied that he could capture more insects 

 in Philadelphia during the winter than in the tropical country 

 along Biscay ne Bay. Well, I could hardly blame him. Day 

 after day, week after week went by, and the dearth of insect 

 life continued, while my spirits sank lower and lower and hope 

 grew faint ; and at the end of March, as I prepared to turn 

 northward, I still considered the season a failure entomologi- 

 cally, I mean. But now, that lovely white Miami, with her 

 waving palms and blue waters, is far away, distance lends her 

 usual enchantment, and I recall only the pleasant experiences, 

 the interesting, if few T , discoveries, which now seem to make 

 my winter very near to a success, after all. 



The most common shrub along the roadsides at Miami, near 

 the shore and also far inland, is one of the Ulmaceae, Tretna 

 micrantha. This grows from ten to twenty feet high, looks 

 not unlike the Celtis or Hackberry, and has nettle-like leaves 

 similar to those of Boehmeria, insignificant, greenish flowers 

 and very small, round, yellow fruit. In Chapman's Botany 

 the only locality given for this shrub is "shell mounds in 



