BY EDWARD DOUP.Lr.DAY. 407 



Black Creek : I want to obtain a luige alligator, but this war 

 lias been nearly fatal to them ; the soldiers going up and down 

 in the boats shoot them, and there are now very few left of a 

 large size. 



St. Johns Bluff. Feb. 17, 1838. — Lepidoptera are now 

 beginning to make their appearance more abundantly; also 

 Coleoptera. I am surprised to see the very great resemblance 

 of the smaller insects of this country to those of Britain : I 

 have about twenty-five species of very small CnrcuUonites, not 

 one of which but looks perfectly English. It is quite a mis- 

 take to suppose that hot climates are incompatible with the 

 existence of minute insects. I have one very pretty Carabite, 

 about the size of AncJiomenus albipes: it is black, with whitish 

 legs: the antennae have the two basal joints red, the four 

 apical joints snow-white, and the intermediate joints black. 

 We have taken some beautiful black and yellow Alticce, and 

 one or two fine Libellulce. I have a Limulus which, although 

 l)roken, is three feet four inches in length. I have some larvae 

 of a moth which feed within the leaves of the Cacti; these are 

 about an inch in length. These Cacti are a great nuisance; 

 the long thorns penetrate your trowsers, and the smaller prickles 

 get into your skin. The multitudes oi Lianas, chiefly Smilax, 

 are also very troublesome ; they creep along the ground and 

 over the bushes ; — and woe be to you if you run ! one of them 

 is sure to catch your feet; and down you fall, in all probability, 

 on an enormous Cactus with spines an inch and a half long. 

 I now keep a sharp look out, and have lately got a cutlass, 

 with which I am about making paths in various directions. 

 We have some most sweet walks in the woods, — winding, and 

 completely arched over. The palmettoes, wild plums, red 

 bays, sassafras, Andromedce, Vaccinii, Cacti, &c. &c. are inter- 

 laced with thousands of wild vines of various species, Smilaces, 

 &c. The live oaks and Maguoliw are most noble. 



Insects promise to be much more abundant here than in the 

 north : you really can form no adequate idea of the great 

 rarity of some species in the northern states. I have been 

 enumerating my captures, and find a much greater number of 

 species than I expected. R. Foster has many species of 

 Coleoptera which I have not, and I also some which he has 

 not. The weather is warmer again; the thermometer 71°. 

 We do not think of leaving this place at present. 



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