46 WORCESTEU COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1878. 



then to take up the beetle, thus deprived of its prothorax and elytra 

 and place it tenderly in the open bill of a sprightly specimen of the 

 TuRDUS migratorius ! 



Should any one object to the delay and trouble of the preliminary 

 dissection, let him profit from the experience of the discoverer : "When 

 '' I put a live beetle down his throat " (the throat of the Turdus) "he 

 " would swallow it, but would exhibit such evident signs of distress that 

 *' I decided that this process was cruel and unnecessary." 



The matter is so serious, that a further quotation may be excused : — 

 " After I had given him three or four he would mount his perch and 

 *' wait until I could prepare another, all the while watching the opera- 

 " tion with evident interest. He would throw back his head and open 

 " his mandibles to their fullest extent to receive the proffered beetle 

 "from my fingers. His appetite knew no bounds. I was astonished 

 " at his voracity. Every day he consumed from forty to fifty June 

 " bugs. One morning at 7 o'clock I gave him fifteen ; I returned from 

 " the office at 12 o'clock, and from that time until sunset tliat evening 

 •'' I fed him all he could eat. During this time he disposed of seventy- 

 •' two of the large beetles ! I have no doubt if I had fed him during 

 '• the morning he would have eaten a hundred !" What a precious 

 experience have we, in this guileless narrative ! How fraught with 

 instruction to our friends and associates upon Sunnyside and by the 

 Holden Line; along May Street and at the Elmwood Nurseries! Let 

 them catch and domesticate their successive broods of Turdi ! Arise 

 with the lark and, coUectingtheir wide-mouthed bottles, remove enough 

 Elytra and Prothoraces 'to permit of an ample breakfast. During the 

 forenoon they can pick their usual supply of lusciou? berries, being 

 sure to market them before dinner. The whole afternoon will then be 

 at their disposal, which time they will be only too happy to spend in 

 the elimination of more, and yet more Prothorax. Blissful millennium ! 

 Charming Arcadia! Though I may never behold another Centennial, 

 nor indulge an errant fancy in that dream of Fair Women which be- 

 witched England's Laureate; yet, let my eyes but feast upon this vis- 

 ion of Perfect Horticulture, realized, and life will not have been in vain. 

 In comparison, how insipid appear the Apician banquets of the Grange ! 

 or even those seductive Huskings whereto the ■' Work" of the Sov- 

 ereigns is so often but an insidious lure ! 



Of other Insect-Foes what shall be said ! What language shall do 

 justice to the Caterpillar of Protiean form and countless myriads ; with- 



