280 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



something disgusting in these slimy, sluggish lizards, which 

 does not appear in the agile kinds that live among the leaves 

 in the woods, and dart along like lightning on our approach. 



F, — I have taken a pretty kind {Salamandra Rubra ?) 

 in watery situations ; dark red on the back, with blight 

 spots ; the belly orange red with dark spots : it swims 

 nimbly and gracefully. 



C. — A few nights ago, as I was writing near an open 

 window, a number of very minute Dayflies {Ephemera) 

 not half as large as a gnat, flew in, attracted by the light, 

 and grovelled on the table and paper* before me. They did 

 not seem capable of rising again, but spun round here and 

 there ; they kept on flouncing down upon the paper one after 

 another for some time, so that it was not an accidental 

 thing, for the actions of all were the same. 



F. — Minute flies, I have noticed, will often grovel about 

 a bright surface, such as a book, &c. by candlelight ; pro- 

 bably not aware of the obstruction until they feel it. 



C. — About the beginning of this month, I found feeding 

 on the hop, a large, reddish, spinous caterpillar, somewhat 

 resembling that of the Painted Lady {Cynthia Cardui\ 

 which soon after became a gilded chrysalis. It has this 

 morning produced that large and handsome Butterfly, the 

 Violet-tip {Grapta C. Aureum), after having been eleven 



days in the pupa state. Here is a young sphinx 



caterpillar, feeding on a willow ; it is rough, light green, 

 with yellowish slanting stripes. I presume it is the larva of 

 the Twin-eyed Hawk-moth (Smerinthus Geminatus.) Is 

 there any means of ascertaining the sex of a caterpillar ? 



F. — The sex of insects is not developed until they 

 attain the imago state ; but I have been able to determine 

 in some instances the future sex by the size of the caterpil- 

 lar, particularly of moths belonging to the division Bomhyx. 

 I have never discovered the eggs in the body of the larva, 



