244 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



whole of the United States ; and I have myself seen it in 

 Newfoundland. 



C. — Red currants in the garden are ripe : and many gar- 

 den flowers are now blown ; which form a great attraction 

 to the humming-birds. I see the brilliant little meteors 

 glancing to and fro^ very often ; and stopping to suck the 

 deep crimson flowers of the balm ; the tail bent down, the 

 wings vibrating, and the head almost buried in the corolla ; 

 yet not easy to be surprised. 



F. — There is a delicious berry now abundant in the 

 woods, growing on a very low plant, scarcely rising above 

 the ground : it is called here the Dewberry (Rubus Procum- 

 bensj. In appearance it is much like the berry of that name 

 in England, but is superior in taste, being of a pleasant 

 tartness. 



C. — Yesterday I found, in walking, some wild Raspber- 

 ries ripe (Rubus Ideus) ; I think they equal in flavour your 

 description of them. See : here are more. 



F, — From this time forth, they will be daily ripening : and 

 bushels will rot upon the ground for want of being gathered ; 

 although large quantities are collected, and either eaten as 

 they are, or made into an excellent conserve. The bushes are 

 extremely numerous on every road-side, and almost in every 

 field, growing in the comers of the fences, springing up abun- 

 dantly in ground recently cleared, and " burnt over ;" and 

 invariably forming a great bush around every dead stump, 

 or neglected log : so that we have no lack of this delicious 

 fruit ; and from its great abundance, it is really no inconsi- 

 derable addition to our comforts. The strawberries are going 

 out of date, but the raspberries are more than sufficient to 

 supply their place. 



C. — Timothy Grass (Phleum Pratense) is now in flow- 

 er : the anthers look like little fragments of dust on the green 



