HARBINGERS OF SPRING. 15 



snow trillium, whitlow-grass and skunk cabbage are 

 the pioneers, the true harbingers, which herald its 

 approach. 



A great awakening also takes place among the 

 varied forms of animal life on the first warm days of 

 March. Among insects the wherrymen, those long- 

 legged water bugs which go skipping so easily and 

 rapidly over the surface of quiet pools, and the whirling- 

 beetles which in vast colonies go circling round and 

 round on the water, are the first ones out. Fuzzy gnats, 



"Old back-bent fellows, 

 lu frugal frieze coat drest," 



come forth from their snug retreats beneath the bark 

 of the beech and other logs, and, swarming in the air, 

 carry on a sort of rhythmical courtship, flitting up 

 and down in the same vertical plane in a dreamy, 

 dancing sort of .motion. 



Hectics, of which, in any county in Indiana, fully 

 three hundred kinds survive the cold season in the 

 winged stage, crawl out from their winter hiding 

 places and a-wooing go, buzzing and humming with 

 extra energy to attract the notice of others of their 

 kind. With the hibernating butterflies mentioned 

 above, and numerous kinds of wild bees and flies, 

 they frequent the freshly cut stumps of the sugar 

 maple, where they sip eagerly the sweet exuding sap. 



Higher in the scale of animal life omens of ap- 

 proaching spring may be seen in the movements of 

 fishes. Thrilled with the impulse of migration, many 

 of the smaller species begin in February and March 

 to ascend small streams and brooks, where, beneath 



