30 WOODLAND IDYLS. 



leaf of the white oak, or on some object on the 

 ground. On the side of the tent, while tighten- 

 ing up the guy ropes, I also found a large walk- 

 ing stick, 13 with barred femora and greenish 

 tibiae and tarsi. Such insects as these I am 

 glad to welcome as visitors. They interest me 

 and at the same time do not detract from my 

 reveries. 



At half past two a heavy shower came on, 

 but lasted only a few minutes. When the drops 

 first fell a score or more of them struck my 

 stove (two old fenders from a riding cultivator) 

 which was still hot and resting on the embers 

 of my noontide fire. As each drop struck it 

 was changed with a hiss and a sputter into 

 steam. As the iron cooled the hisses gradually 

 grew softer and more prolonged, then ceased 

 altogether, the rain having extinguished the 

 embers and shut off the supply of heat. 



Just after the shower my neighbor, J. C., tall, 

 gaunt and lame, came over to see "how I was 

 getting on." He is the one who "owns" the 

 spring where I get water. He told me that last 

 week his little grandson was bitten on the hand 

 by a copperhead snake and described the rem- 

 edies used. First a chicken was killed and 

 opened up and the boy's hand thrust in among 

 the entrails, which soon became black from the 

 poison they absorbed; second, a decoction of 



1 Diapheromera femorata Say. 



