THE INSECTS OF EARLY SPRING. 



189 





217. The Comma Butterfly. 



The beautiful moth, Adela,.with its immensely long antennae, 

 may be seen, ^vith other smaller moths, feeding on the blossoms 

 of tlie willow. The 

 Ants wake from 

 their winter's sleep 

 and throw up their 

 hillocks, and the 

 "thriving pismire" 

 issues from his 

 vaulted galleries 

 constructed in some 

 decaying log or 

 stump, while the 

 Angle worms emu- 

 late their six -footed neighbors. During the mild days of 

 March, ere the snow has melted away — 



"The dandy Butterfly, 

 All exquisitely drest," 



will visit our gardens. Such are various kinds of Vanessa and 

 Grapta (Fig. 217, G. c-argenteum*). The beautiful Brephos in- 

 fans flies before the snow disappears. '^ 



"The Gnat, ohl back. bent fellow, 

 lu frugal frieze coat drest," 



will celebrate the coming of Spring, with his choral dance. 



Such is Trichocera hyemalis, which may be seen in multitudes 



towards twilight on mild even- 

 ings. Many flies are now on the 

 wing, such as Tachina (Fig. 218) 

 and its allies ; the four spotted 

 Mosquito, Anopheles quadri- 

 maculatus, and the delicate spe- 

 cies of Chironomus, whose' 

 males have such beautifully 

 feathered antennas, assemble in 

 swarms. Now is the time for 

 the collector to turn up stones 

 and sticks by the river's si^e 



and in grassy damp pastures, for Ground beetles (Carabldaj), 



and to frequent sunny paths for the gay Cicindela and the Bom- 



218. Tachina. 



•The right side represents the under side of the wings. 



