58 



NATURE'S CALENDAR 



^ .J fly honeysuckle, covered with pale green 



— — - leaves, the slender branches tipped with 



pairs of honey-colored bells. 



In the swamp yellow prevails. There 

 one finds the marsh marigold, growing 

 fairly in the water ; the leatherwood, with 

 little yellow pairs of flowers; and the 

 golden knots of bloom threaded along 

 the olive-colored branches of the spice- 

 bush ; while wide spaces of marshy land 

 are gilded by the hanging lilies of the 

 adder's tongue. 



The coming of plentiful sunshine and 

 soft airs brings out of retirement, and 

 hatches from eggs safely laid away last 

 fall, a large number of "small and early" 

 insects, whose humming fills the blossom- 

 covered maples, basswoods, and other 

 honey-laden trees; also bark-borers, bee- 

 tles, and other hardy forms that live on 

 tree-trunks or on or near the ground ; 

 ants and worms are throwing up their 

 hillocks everywhere; a sprinkling of 

 moths and butterflies appears; and in 

 chase of all these go industrious para- 

 sites, such as the ichneumons. 



Among the moths and butterflies small, 

 dull-colored forms prevail — the advance- 

 guard of the brilliant hosts of midsum- 

 mer. Such are the little, gray, night- 

 flying moths; several species of tortri- 

 cids, mostly those whose young prey 

 upon fruit, such as the apple worm ; these 

 must, therefore, be on hand to deposit 

 their eggs in the fruit buds. Tineids are 



