MAY. 187 



F. — These beetles answer the same useful purpose as the 

 vultures and jackals of tropical countries : that of quickly- 

 removing putrid animal substances. The SilphidcBj in par- 

 ticular, are very useful in this respect : as soon as animal 

 substances become fetid, these beetles throng to it from all 

 quarters : whether the knowledge is derived from the sight, 

 as in the case of the vultures, or from the smell, I do not 

 know, but I suspect the latter. A curious practice prevails 

 here, of throwing the carcass of a lamb, when one dies, into 

 the limbs of an apple-tree in the orchard : it is true this 

 instance is an exception, but the custom is a general one, 

 though of the origin or object of it, I have not the most dis- 

 tant idea. 



C. — The beautiful green Sparklers (Cicindela Sex-gut- 

 tata), and a purplish species (Cicindela Proteus), fly about 

 dusty roads. The former are of a most brilliant dazzHng 

 green, if the rays of light falling on them are reflected to the 

 eye at an acute angle ; but if it be obtuse, they appear of 

 a deep and fine blue. The same phenomenon occurs in the 

 brilliant colour of the Emerald Agrion of Alabama (Agrion 

 VirginicaJi and Wilson notices exactly the same thing in 

 the plumage of the Indigo-bird (Fringilla Cyanea). These 

 Tiger Beetles, as they are called, are, I suppose, the most 

 agile of all coleopterous insects ; their legs are very long 

 and slender, and they run with such swiftness, that they 

 seem to glide along the ground rather than to crawl ; and 

 on the approach of a footstep they take wing with as much 

 wildness as any fly, but only for a short distance, when they 

 alight again. They can be caught only with a net, and it 

 is a difficult matter even then. 



F, — Many trees have burst their leaf-buds, and new ones 

 are opening every day. Yonder poplar woods have a pleas- 



