1917 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 29 



cemeniarius. In it the larva remains quiescent iln-ough the winter In June the 

 k al skin shrivels up, and the pupa, a wonderfully beautiful object, appears. 

 It is as if it were formed of the purest translucent white wax. Its various par s 

 are exquisitely fashioned, and symmetrically arranged. Towards the end of June 

 th pupa hedns to take colour: the eyes assume a pale chestnut tint-this changes 

 to black. The thorax and wing-cases also become deep black. In the first .eek 

 of July the complete metamorphosis has taken place, and the perfect insect comes 



'"^"ha:' tnS TiHcen rin.osa Say. This is a rare insect in Quebec Pro- 

 vince, but its near relative Cicada canicularls Harris is very abundant 



One afternoon, in the early sixties, I was walking under a row of noble elm 

 trees that grew along one of the upper-town streets of Montreal, when I noticed a 

 large insect of rather a disreputable appearance or.wl from the earth and begin o 

 ascend a tree Its proceedings interested me. After climbing for a foot it dug 

 its claws-and it was well provided with claws-mto the bark of the tree to secure 

 its hold, and then ])esan to sway itself violently from side to side, as if troubled 

 with a sharp internal disorder. Something will result from this paroxysm, T 

 thought to myself, and something did result. Its skin parted along the back from 

 face to abdomen, and then the creature began to crawl through the gap it had 

 made, drawing its legs from their cases as if it were taking off its boots. Its wmgs 

 which had been neatlv plaited in side cases, were gradually imfolded, and m a 

 quarter of an hour the perfect insect seemed to be ready for flight. ^ 



That larcre insects, such as C. canicularis, where they are present m numbers, 

 must damage°the trees by tunneling in them is evident. In passing, and by way 

 of bringing this home, let me say, that, in my grounds at South Quebec there stood 

 in the open, a well-grown, shapely spruce-I suppose fifteen inches m diameter at 

 ■the ba^e One windv dav in the summer the tree broke off at the base. It was 

 pierced, in every dir'ection, by the mines of the " Forgeron " (as the French call 

 it— the Blacksmith {Monolmmmus scutellatus Say), the black, titillating beetle, 



with the white lunette on its shoulders. ^ r. i • i fi.nf 



Leaving the insects let us for a few minutes consider some of the bird, that 

 frequent the city oi^ occasionally visit it. ^, , ., • • • 



La^t year, in the month of June, a young Night-hawk {Chordeile.s v^r9^nuinus 

 Linn.) fluttered down from the flat roof of the after part of the house I now 

 occupv on Frank Street, Ottawa. It lit upon the kitchen door-steps When ap- 

 proached it merely cowered down, and then, without a struggle, allowed itself to be 

 carried back to the roof from which it had fallen. A few days after another young 

 bird, a male of the same species, tumbled to the same spot. I secured it with my 

 entomological net. carried it up-stairs and let it go through a window. It partly 

 opened its great length of wing and shuffled away behmd a chimnev'. 



The past summer was marked by frequent thunder-storms. On the .oth ot 

 June there was one of extreme violence. A stately elm, that grew in the yacant 

 ground l)ehind my house, was rent, through the centre, from top to bottom, by a 

 Lhtnincr flash. When the storm was at its height I looked out upon the roof I 

 have spoken of, and I was startled. Within three yards of me was a female 

 Ni-ht-hawk sheltering her young with her ample wings. The rain descended m 

 torrent^, but, with marvellous patience, she maintained her position. 



The -revs and browns of the night-hawk's plumage, together with its Avli.te 

 ,narkincrs.%lend with the tints of the pebbled roof of the city dwelling-or those 

 Of the waste place in the country-which the mother bird may select on which 

 to deposit her eggs. The eggs resemble pebbles. 



