362 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



II. 



Canadian Lanes. 



Doubtless, in olden times, when men were few and land grants 

 under the feudal system extensive, hedging and ditching were 

 ready means for enclosing and draining the land, and they have 

 been enduring means. 



In Canada the roads that remind one of English lanes, though 

 in truth they are very different, are such as lead through parts of 

 the country in which the old-fashioned snake-fences still enclose 

 the farms and in which brush has been allowed to grow freely in 

 the angles of the fences. In such localities, old roads abandoned 

 for new ones, concession roads leading to a few homesteads off the 

 main lines of travel, roads through sugar-woods and the uncleared 

 forest — these, in their quietude and freedom from dust, are sugges- 

 tive of English lanes — though they lack much of their beauty. 



I will speak briefly of a few such roads: 



The Caledonia Road. — Skirting a tract well known to the 

 naturalists of Ottawa, by the name of "The Beaver Meadow," is 

 a lane connecting the Aylmer Road with the Chelsea Road. It 

 was originally a "Corduroy road," and it still ends in the remains 

 of a swamp, in which Typha latijolia grows freely. Impro\'ements 

 in the neighbourhood have altered its appearance: the logs are 

 gone, and the bed-rock is seen in much of its length; and this, in 

 summer, is carpeted with Stone-crop {Sediini acre L.). 



Alas! the Beaver Meadow has now been cleared, drained and 

 laid out into building lots. The city naturalists will ha\-e to go 

 farther afield, for their investigations, and the Caledonia Road will 

 soon become a city street. When I li\ed in Hull, however, I spent 

 many tranquil hours within its quiet limits. 



Muddy spots in the road were much frequented by butterflies. 

 In bright days in April hibernated specimens of Aglais milberti 

 Godart might be seen there. The spring larvae of this species may 

 be fownd feeding upon the young shoots of the Stinging Nettle 

 (Urtica dioica L.). I raised two batches of them in 1911. They 

 went into chrysalis in the first week of June. Sixty per cent, of 

 them were parasitised by Protopanteles atalantce Packard. The 

 grubs of this fly issued from the larvae of the butterfly — not through 

 the spiny upper parts, but — through the tender ventral portions. 



