110 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



A DAY AT THE MER BLEUE (EASTMAN'S SPRINGS, ONT.). 

 By Arthur Gibson, Ottawa. 



An excursion to the Mer Bleue at any time from April to November is always of keen inter- 

 «8t to Ottawa entomologists. The nature of the locality, and the varied forms of life to be met 

 with there, all tend to entice those who delight in observing and collecting specimens of natural 

 history. The name Mer Bleue is applied to a vast peat bog, which at one point comes close to 

 Eastman's Springs, Ont., and being in a comparatively undisturbed state, as far as the interfer- 

 ence of man is concerned, naturally at once suggests itself as a favourite resort for naturalists. 

 Local investigators have always considered this large swamp, and its immediate vicinity, a most 

 lucrative point at which to collect. The members of the Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club have on 

 several occasions journeyed in a body to Eastman's Springs to spend the day collecting, etc., and 

 on all such excursions many interesting plants, insects, etc., have been found. 



On the 30th May, 1901, Dr. Fletcher, Mr. W. E. Saunders, of London, Ont., Mr. C. H. 

 Young, of Hurdman's Bridge, and the writer, spent a delightful and successful dav at the Mer 

 Bleue. After a 12 mile drive from Mr. Young's residence on the Rideau River, about 10 a.m. 

 we reached the house of our good friend Mr. Manus, who on all such occasions receives us hospitably 

 *and kindly allows us to " pat up " our horse, etc, for tne day, Mr. Manus's house is close to 

 the edge of the swamp, and on the above mentioned date, as soon as we had donned rubber 

 boots, or an old pair of ordinary boots, and laiened ourselves with collecting apparatus, lunch, 

 etc., we immediately headed for the bog. The morning was rather overcast and there was just 

 enough wind to keep down the mosquitoes, which naturally swarm on the bog. This advantage, 

 however, somewhat prevented other and more desirable insects from flying. 



Close to the swamp Pyransta octomaculata, with its quick, flighty movements, was readily 

 noticeable and very abundant. After passing through a rather obstructive thick growth of 

 alder, which fringes the margin of the sphagnum carpeted bog, and wading in water 

 sometimes up to our knees for about ten minutes, we reached the swamp proper and at once began 

 •collecting. Just at the entrance is a small cleared space of quaking bog covered with cran. 

 berries, and with a bubbling gas spring in the middle. Here we stopped a few minutes to drink 

 the water, and to light the bubbles of gas as they rose to the surface. The first specimen foind 

 was a nice fresh eximple of Hemaris thysbe, which had just emerged, the wings being still quite 

 soft. Theiin aiignstus, which is always a frequenter of the Mer Bleue, was the first diurnal 

 taken, but it was a little late for perfect specimens. We were hoping to find the larva of this 

 rspecies, but we were too late. This Thecla is fairly abundant every season in this locality, and 

 .as nothing is known of the earlier stages of this interesting species, we were anxious, if possible 

 to learn something about it. Several females were followed and watched carefully to see if we 

 could detect them in the act of laying eggs. Dr. Fletcher has reared the closely allied T, 

 iroidea from caterpillars found feeding on green apples in Vancouver Island, and was of the 

 opinion that the food of the larvpc of T. augiostus would prove to be the green berries of the 

 Blueberry, or the capsules of some Ericaceous plant, of which there were many kinds growing 

 in profusion on the bog. The females rested for tantalizingly long periods on flower clusters of 

 K/xlmia (jlauca and Ledum latifullnm, both of which were in flower, as well as on the now flower" 

 Sefis bushes of Cassandra calyctdata which occurred everywhere, but not a single egg could be 

 found. 



Over the whole of this immense swamp the aromatic white-flowered Labrador Tea (Ledum 

 latifolium), the Leather Leaf {Cassandra calyculata), the Sheep-laurel (Kalmia (jlauca), and the 

 delicate Andromeda {Andromeda polifolia) were in great profusion. Flying among these, as 

 well as among other plants, were hundreds of specimens of the foUowinsr geometers, usually to 

 be found in swamps at this season : ^emaria grataria, Fidonia truncataria, Eumaturga faKoniay 



