406 NATl RAL lUSTOKY OF NOKTII AMERICA, 



heard the great owl {S. Virgmiauus) hooting. There is a 

 vast quantity of Cactus and Yucca ploriosa here, and I have 

 seen one enormous plant of Agave; but the stories I have heard 

 of hedges of Agate are not true ; they must refer to Yucca 

 Draconls, or Y.gloriosa. Y.filamentosa is not quite so common : 

 I saw a flower-stem of last year, at Black Creek, about twelve 

 feet high ; it was bored by some insect, of which the larvae 

 were still there, so 1 secured the part bored. There is a moth 

 here, the caterpillar of which makes a long oval cocoon of bits 

 of stick, and suspends it from a branch : I saw a Cupressus at 

 Charlestown covered with them, but I could only pull down a 

 branch which hung over the road; 1 thus obtained three of 

 the cocoons ; I have since obtained two or three more from a 

 species of Ambrosia. The caterpillar is nearly white, the 

 thoracic segments look horny, the pupa hangs with its head 

 downward. Dr. Bachman kindly presented me with a specimen 

 of the perfect insect; in form it a little resembles Zeuzera, but 

 it has transparent wings. 



St. Johns Bluff, East Florida. Feb. \S, 1838.— R. Foster 

 and I are still working hard here. There ai*e many minute 

 Diptera now out, and a few Ckalcidites, but I have only taken 

 twenty- four species of the latter. We have taken several 

 Eristalides and HelophUi on the plum-blossoms, that I can 

 scarcely imagine myself in Florida when I look at them. 

 R. Foster has just taken a large swallow-tailed Papilio, dif- 

 ferent from any thing I know. Dr. Bachman gave me a 

 specimen of the same, which he took at Charlestown, and 

 which is the only one he ever saw. I have now taken at this 

 place rather more than one thousand nine hundred Coleoptera, 

 a great proportion of which are aquatic, and the majority are 

 so small as to require mounting on cards. We had a frost 

 last night ; the thermometer was as low as 29°. The orange- 

 trees are a litde cut. I now give up all hopes of getting 

 many birds or fish : reptiles J still hope for. I saw a huge 

 snake the other day, but could not get him. I have hitherto 

 seen but one deer, and only one flock of wild turkeys. I 

 yesterday took a fine black Chlcenius, with red legs, more than 

 an inch long ; and also some specimens of a bright green 

 species, difierent from those we took in the north. We have 

 taken a few beautifully blue Cicindelce, quite immaculate. 



I long to go up the river to Fort Mellon, or at least to 



