SEPTEMBER. 307 



of all the deciduous trees. But the close alliance of this 

 tree with its evergreen congeners, may account for this. 



C. About a week ago, I saw a White Ash (Fraxinus 

 Acuminata) which was thickly covered with seeds, dropping 

 them very fast ; the ground underneath was strewn with 

 them. The seed is curiously enclosed in the end of a long, 



flat wing. Here is a specimen of the beautifully 



coloured Crimson Beetle, crawling on this stump. It is of a 

 singular shape, being so thin and flat. 



F. It is a Cucujus ( C. Rufus) ; it is not uncommon, 

 crawling on logs, trunks of trees, beneath bark, &c. In 

 ploughing now, we often turn up the soft, inert, Chestnut 

 Chafer (Rhizotroga Fervens), the Copper- spot (Calosoma 

 Calidum), and the Purple Carab (Carabus Catena), and 

 other beetles. Most of the soft-billed, insect-eating birds, 

 the pretty warblers, &c. are now gone from us : it is true 

 they have been withdrawn from our observation for some 

 months, but they were occasionally seen. Owing to this 

 habit of retirement, it is difficult, without very close research, 

 to note the time of their departure ; but we find that most 

 species appear in the State of Pennsylvania, on their southern 

 migration, during the months of September and October; 

 from which we may conclude that they leave our land a 

 little before that time. Many of the seed-eaters, the Frin- 



gillse, &c. remain, however, with us. Have you 



procured any more lepidopterous caterpillars lately ? 



C. I have obtained some ; but the season is becoming 

 too far advanced for much success in bush-beating. Many 

 large geometric caterpillars are found on the willows, near 

 thr.ee inches long, and as thick as a goose-quill, very rough, 

 and full of knobs and irregularities, mostly dark brown ; 

 they take a firm grasp of the branch on which they rest, 

 with the two anal pairs of feet, and rear the rest of their 



