S2 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA, 



individuals, unless you meet with an Acer spiratum or a Dog- 

 wood bush in blossom. In the rotten trunks of trees you do 

 somewhat better, but not much. I must say, that I consider 

 the multitudes of ants which occur every where to be, in a 

 great degree, the cause of this. The Orthoptera bid fair to 

 be very numerous, judging from the number of larvae and 

 pupae. Neuroptera are just coming out ; there are a few very 

 fine Libellidites ; there are several species o^ Agrion precisely 

 like our own. 



Now for the Lepidoptera. Butterflies are not yet nume- 

 rous, and the short twilights forbid mothing, so the only way 

 is to light up for them. I am much struck with the resem- 

 blance which many of the Lepidoptera bear to those of England. 

 The following species, if not identical with ours, are too near 

 them for one to discern any difference. 



These may be identical with our own, yet really I cannot 

 think so, unless there are importations from the old world. 

 After catching four or five apparently British moths, it is very 

 striking to see a huge Cecropia entering the room. Last night, 

 in an interim between the arrival of the moths, (for they come 

 by fits,) I was sitting reading Rienzi, when I saw something- 

 huge and white ; it was a magnificent Luna, — such a beauty ! 

 and oh my anxiety, as he played around the window, just 

 out of my reach ! At last he entered, and in a moment was in 

 my hand. This was by far the most foreign Lepidopterous 

 insect I had seen. 



In Diptera I have taken a few fine things, and a great many 

 very like our own. There is one very singular Tipida here, 

 with its legs, especially the tarsi, very much dilated, and 



