290 



THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



NEEDLE ICHNEUMON. 



PeUcinus Polycerator. 



tor) ; its flight is ra- 

 ther heavy and slow ; 

 the sting or ovipositor 

 is concealed, but the 

 last segment of the 

 body is pointed, and 

 when held in the hand 

 it strives to wound, by 

 striking blows with the 



point of the abdomen : it is capable of giving a slight punc- 

 ture, attended with only a transient smart. The long abdo- 

 men is usually carried in a curve, the end bent under : the 

 hindmost shanks (UMcb) have a remarkable swelling. It is 

 found from Canada to Alabama, but does not appear to be 

 numerous anywhere. 



C. — The down of the Canada Thistle begins to be borne 

 about on the wind, filling the air at intervals with clouds of 

 the little feathery aeronauts ; especially when a flock of the 

 brilliant little Yellow-birds (Fringilla Tristis) are busily 

 engaged in a bed of these plants, pecking away at the downy 

 heads, to get at the seeds beneath, and dispersing whole 

 hosts of the egrets at every touch. On those flowers of the 

 thistle which have not yet ripened, the Pearl-border Fritil- 

 lary (MelitcBa Myrina) is numerous, frisking to and fro, 

 and opening and shutting its tessellated wings in the sun. 



F. — Here is a sight which ought to open the heart with 

 gratitude : our fields of ripe golden grain ; the bright-yellow 

 feathery oats, waving lightly in the breeze, which plays over 

 their changing surface, as over a summer sea ; the more so- 

 ber-coloured and heavier, but not less valuable, wheat, the 

 " staff of life f the buckwheat, a plant having considerable 

 claims to beauty, with its deep green, heart-shaped leaves. 



