New Jerfey, Raccoon. 139 



nen or half-rotten wood, and leaves a 

 fmell of burnt wood. The wafps, whofe 

 nefts I have now defcribed, have three ele- 

 vated black fhining points on the fore- 

 head -j-, and a pentagonal black fpot on 

 the thorax. Towards the end of autumn 

 thefe wafps creep into the cavities of moun- 

 tains, where they ly torpid during winter. 

 In fpring, when the fun begins to ope- 

 rate, they come out during day-time, but 

 return towards night, when it grows 

 cold. I faw them early in (pring during 

 funfhine, in and about fome cavities in the 

 mountains. I was told of another fpecies 

 of wafps, which make their nerts under 

 ground. 



Gyrinus natator ( ' Amerkanus ) ', or the 

 Whirl- beetles. Thefe were found dancing 

 jn great numbers on the furface of the wa- 

 ters. 



April the 14th. This morning I went 

 down to Cheftcr : in feveral places on the 

 road are faw-mills, but thofe which I faw 

 to-day had no more than one faw. I like- 

 wife 



f Thefe three points are common to mod infefts, and 

 ought therefore not to be made chara&eriftics of any par- 

 ticular fpecies. They are called Stemmata, and are a 

 kind of eyes which ferve the infects for looking at diftant 

 objects, as the compound eyes do for objecls near at 

 iand. F. 



