176 ANNUAL REPORT 



vertgules, argent, or fesses, bars, bends crosses, crescents, stars, 

 and eveD the outlines of animals. Think of the Death-head moth, 

 and others that we might mention. There seems to be no end to 

 the shapes and colors with which these tiny creatures are favored, 

 and how they act and what imitators they are. Almost every 

 farmer's son is acquainted with the snapping-beetle — elater — that 

 comes into the window summer evenings, darts for the lamp, strikes 

 its head against the shade or chimney and so falls on the table on 

 his back, but by some queer contrivance of his head and neck he 

 soon Hops over and away he runs. 



We wish it were possible to say something that would entice some 

 of our boys to study this wonderfully interesting subject. "Who 

 knows but a Linnaeus or a Cuvier, or an Agassiz lies hidden under 

 the rough exterior of some of our farmer boys, all they may lack is 

 a little direction. We feel sure if we can once get a boy interested 

 in the structure, moultings, transformations, metamorphoses, egg 

 hatching, feeding, growth, etc., we have laid the foundation 

 for a close observer of nature, and that is just the very thing 

 we wish the future horticulturalist to be. Why! this subject 

 enlarges before the view of our mind and we cannot grasp a tithe 

 of its beauties or its usefulness! 



We spoke of the actions and imitations of some insects. There 

 is a spider in the island of Sumatra and Borneo, that by its won- 

 derful instinct, weaves a thin webb on the leaves of some plants, in 

 the shape and resemblance of the droppings of a bird; it so weaves 

 the web that it is thin in some places, leaving blank space and 

 thickened in some places even like a drop running down the edge 

 of the leaf ending in a little pellet close to the end and making the 

 whole thing look for all the world like the excreta of a bird drop- 

 ped on the leaf. This spider has his body black and his legs white 

 and black, so after he has finished the trap, he, possum like, is 

 himself up on his back and awaits the arrival of some hungry in- 

 sect that feeds upon the excretia of birds, and so dives down to make 

 his meal, when lo! it furnishes a repast for a turn-coat. 



Many, indeed, are the examples we could give of the actions and 

 imitations of these creatures. There is a species of a butterfly in 

 Brazil, upon which a certain bird feeds; this is a curious thing. 

 There is another butterfly somewhat similar, but not of a pleasing 

 taste to this bird. So it is said that the palatable butterfly actual- 

 ly follows not only the habit of flight, but imitates the coloring 

 of thb distasteful lepidoptera, and thus escapes. Insects are tent- 

 makers, miners, millers, weavers, carpenters, painters, agricultur- 

 ists, undertakers, and some of the mites and spiders are the most 

 wonderful acrobats. 



They are ubiquitous, and infest the whole animal creation — they 

 are on your head, in your mouth, on your body and in your stom- 

 ach, and in your heels, and so likewise they infest the whole vege- 

 table creation. 



The remainder of our remarks must be few, for we have already 

 exceeded our limits. 



The plants that are mostly cultivated in greenhouses are, roses, 



