150 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



and eating. In Newfoundland, a Red Currant (Ribes Rin- 

 gens ?) is common, which is covered with hair, and has a very 

 strong, unpleasant smell and taste. The stem and twigs, too, 

 are thickly beset with brown hair. 



C. As we approach the river, the willows become 

 abundant ; their long shoots are quite green with the open- 

 ing leaves. 



F. The Willows (Salix) of which there are forty 

 species, natives of North America, leaf, like the Poplars, 

 with great rapidity. They delight in marshy situations, 

 and will not usually thrive except in the vicinity of water. 

 Generally speaking, the willows have more the appearance 

 of shrubs than trees, rarely growing to any considerable 

 height, and commonly dividing at the root into many di- 

 verging branches ; yet there is, on the road to Sherbrooke, 

 within about a mile of that town, a willow, which is a lofty 

 tree, being, I should think, not less than fifty feet in height. 



C. The Day flies (Ephemera) fly now in the evenings : 

 two of them, with dark wings, flew in at my open window 

 last night, which, I see this morning, have sloughed their 

 skins, and obtained perfectly hyaline wings. The Red and 

 Yellow Sphex of Newfoundland (Nomada Americana) 

 is now to be found ; I saw one yesterday hovering about 

 ploughed ground, and peeping into every little hole. Large 

 dragonfly grubs are abundant at the bottom of brooks and 

 ponds, I caught an Azure Butterfly (Polyommatus Lucia), 

 with the upper wings having a broad border of black : 

 from its distended abdomen, I supposed it was a female. 

 Many beetles crawl about the grass and under stones, among 

 which the Purple Carab (Carabus Catena) and the Copper- 

 spot (Calosoma Calidum) are numerous. In fact, insects 

 of all orders have ended their winter's repose, and meet us at 

 every step. 



