410 NATURAL HISTORY OF NOKTH AMERICA, 



Andromedce, Vaccinia, Myrica, Asimince, Olea Americana, 

 Laurus Sassafras, Bejaria, red bay, various plums, dwarf oak, 

 holly, &c. On the ground creeps the beautiful little Mitchella 

 repens, with its fragrant snow-white flowers and scarlet berries ; 

 and the bushes are interwoven with endless Smilaces and 

 vines. The beautiful jessamine Gelsemlnum sempermrens, 

 climbs the tallest oaks, and hangs its golden flowers from their 

 branches, or trails along the ground and over the low bushes ; 

 its fragrant flowers have now fallen, but Bignonia caprifoUata 

 and Lonicera sempervirens adorn the bushes with their scarlet 

 but scentless bloom. The soil of the hummocks is generally 

 good, containing much vegetable matter, but does not suit for 

 orange trees until one or two years after it has been cleared. 



Scattered along the shores of the river, and also in the pine 

 barrens, you find swamps of various extent. A bout four or five 

 miles from hence is a vast swamp extending to nearx\ugustine; 

 it consists entirely of cypresses ; these swamps are called 

 cypress swamps, but the major part of the swamps are covered 

 with a thick grove of Laurus, Gordonia puhescens, and other 

 semi-aquatic trees. A wet, half-swampy spot, where little 

 grows but stunted red bay or sassafras, is called a hay-gall. 

 Here and there you find large ponds, which are nearly dry 

 in summer. 



Thus much as to the face of the country ; now a few words 

 more about insects. When we arrived here in January the 

 principal hunting places for Coleoptera were in the hummocks, 

 under bark, in fungi, &c. : in these localities we found many 

 EngidcB, Diaperidce, Anthribltes, Cucujites, Tenehrionites, &c. 

 In the ponds we took many Hydradephaga and Philhydrida, 

 amongst them the most minute species I have ever seen, appa- 

 rently belonging to the genus Hydroporus : three genera of the 

 Hydradephaga are not British, and are very singular in form, 

 but in general the genera and many of the species, also the 

 Berosi, HydrocM, and Hydrohii, closely resemble those found 

 in Britain. In February we obtained many insects by sweep- 

 ing along the sides of the swamps. There were many Cur- 

 culionites, nearly all small and very English looking; in fact, the 

 Curcidionites now constitute one-sixth of the Coleoptera we 

 have taken. Some of the Alticites are very fine, particularly 

 one striped with black and yellow, and about the size of 

 Chrysomela cereaUs. There are two or three insects of a genus 



