Vol. LI. LONDON, ALARCH, 1919. No. 3 



POPULAR AND PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGY. 



Dog Days, 

 by francis j- a. morris, peterborough, ont. 



Almanacs heliacal and cosmic notwithstanding, sunworshippers in Canada 

 during the first fortnight of July, 1916, could hardly question the ascendancy of 

 Sirius. The heat was so intense here, in Central Ontario, that tropical thunder- 

 storms burst over the land every few days without ever lowering the mercury 

 longer than a matter of hours. For certain forms of insect activity (we may 

 safely say) it cannot be too hot, and at such times, if your observer is a real 

 enthusiast, he will be more than busy. For my part I was enjoying the rest and 

 leisure of summ.er holidays by hurrying at red-hot speed — a slow walk sufficed — 

 to a succession of stations at four diverse radial points from the city of Peter- 

 borough, six miles east to the Wood of Desire, eight miles south to the neigh- 

 borhood of Hiawatha, two miles west beyond Jackson's Park, and five miles 

 north between Nassau and Lakefield. At the western station I was burrowing 

 into the heart of a woodpile with results that have already been put on record. 

 I wish here to say something of a trip I took towards Hiawatha. 



On July 5th I boarded the early morning train to Keene, my object being to 

 make a general reconnaisance of the country lying between Indian and 

 Otonabee Ri\ers just north of Rice Lake; a solitary tramp one April, when wild 

 geese were wedging north, had revealed some likely looking woods, and their 

 promise had been confirmed by a motor ride to Hiawatha and a river trip to 

 Jubilee Point. I started out determined not to show any more bias or dis- 

 crimination than a man who is "sot" in his few peculiar ways can help, and that 

 was why I carried field glasses and a pocket plant-press as well as insect net and 

 collecting bottle. 



On leaving Keene station, after a few uncertain questings like a hound at 

 fault, I finally headed west, nose to the ground, and swung south at the second 

 cross-road, in full cry for a compact-looking bush of hardwood and hemlock. 

 Presently I came to where dense cedar aisles flanked the road on both sides. 

 Experience had taught me to look in such places for some of the smaller Botry- 

 chhims (ferns), and I dived into the depths. As soon as I had had time to 

 collect myself and look about, like some Indian pearl-gatherer, I found myself 

 staring at a large clump of Macrae's Cor a\-root {Cor allorhiza 5/na/a) . still in bloom 

 though 3 weeks later than usual ; quite near it were some small plants of Botry- 

 chiiim simplex, while further on I found a few fairly large specimens of Botry- 

 chiiim matricarice (ramosum). All this on the west side of the road; on the east 

 this rare Coral-root was abundant, especially some feet down a steep bank on 

 the outskirts of the wood I had been making for. It seems to have a decided 

 preference for sheltered roadsides and the edges of woods, especially under 

 evergreens; though one station at least that I know of is under hardwoods. 

 The plant, usually known as Striped Coralroot, is a western species, and in 

 Ontario is reputed quite as rare as, say, the Evening Grosbeak among birds; 

 in the neighborhood of Peterborough, however, it is of fairly general occurrence. 



