192 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



cannot penetrate, while the leaves quivering in the air, seem 

 as if each one were possessed of an individual life, and were 

 frolicking in mirth and gaiety. The bushes and shrubs 

 are studded with myriads of happy insects, of all sorts, 

 merrily hurrying to and fro, and enjoying their brief but 

 joyous span of life in the gladdening beam. 



Charles. — It is indeed a scene of loveliness : it is al- 

 most worth a winter of frost and snow to witness such a 

 scene. The apples in the orchard, and the wild cherry trees 

 in the woods are now mere bunches of blossoms, so profuse 

 as to quite hide the leaves. The fields of grass are brightly 

 green, and enamelled with flowers, and the young grain is 

 of a still richer and deeper greenness. The cattle in the 

 pastures are beginning to acquire the sleekness consequent 

 upon fresh and abundant herbage, and warm weather ; and 

 every thing speaks of happiness. The birds do not appear 

 in such numbers, nor with so much familiarity as before, 

 having probably domestic duties to attend to in the shelter 

 of the groves ; but the insect tribes are more and more 

 numerous. 



F. — What new acquisitions have you lately made in 

 entomology ? 



C. — The American Pearl-border Fritillary (MelitcBa 

 Myrinajy a veiy pretty little butterfly, much resembling 

 M. Euphrosyne, has made its appearance. It is one of 

 those Fritillaries which are marked, especially on the under 

 surface, with spots having the lustre and polished metallic 

 appearance of silver. Why is the name Fritillary given to 

 this division of butterflies ? 



F. — Fritillarius signifies a chess or chequer-board, and 

 the term is applied to this family, because a majority of the 

 species composing it, have the upper surface of the wings, 

 and sometimes the lower also, tesselated or chequered with 

 black and tawny. This species, though small, is very 



