SEPTEMBER. ^93 



among the foliage of the maples ? an earnest of that splendid 

 livery which will clothe all the forest in a few weeks. 



C. — What birds are those which are hovering in a cloud 

 about yonder field of buckwheat ? 



F. — They are the common Passenger Pigeon (Columha 

 Migratoria) ; they devour a great quantity of that grain, in 

 seasons when they are numerous with us. It is, I believe, 

 the only mischief we sustain from them ; and the gun takes 

 ample revenge. 



C. — While the leaves of the trees are yet green, I am dili- 

 gent in beating them for lepidopterous caterpillars : I have 

 had much success in obtaining these lately, some of which I 

 will mention to you. I have taken several of the fine green vel- 

 vety caterpillars of the Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio TurnusJ, 

 with violet spots on the body, and two eye spots. It spins a 

 bed of silk so tightly stretched from one edge of a leaf to the 

 other as to bend it up, so that a section of it would represent 

 a bow, the silk being the string. On this elastic bed the 

 larva reposes, the fore parts of the body drawn in so as to 

 swell out that part, on which the eye spots are very conspi- 

 cuous. I have taken it from willow, poplar, and basswood, 

 but chiefly from brown ash. Before it spins its button and 

 suspending girth, it gradually changes colour to a dingy 

 purple. The chrysalis is brown, with many darker blotches. 

 The caterpillars of the Muff Moth (Lophocampa Tesselaris) 

 are also numerous on ash, willow, poplar, and apple trees ; 

 these are very pretty, covered with a thick, soft, long fur 

 generally bright yellow in the middle, and black at each 

 end ; but in many the yellow, and in others the black, 

 predominates, to the almost total exclusion of the other 

 colour. They spin oval cocoons, slight and thin in texture, 

 being in a great degree composed of the hairs of the cater- 

 pillar ; these are found attached to the under sides of stones, 

 &c. in spring. I find caterpillars of that division called 



