10 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



artificial fly will answer on the Black River; 

 the hooks need not be larger than No. 5 or 6, 

 and two flies will suffice on a cast. Parties 

 wishing to visit this mountain lake region to 

 camp in June or July will have to take warm 

 clothing, as the nights are generally cold. A 

 description of the lakes and streams spring- 

 ing from the rocky mountains of the Assomp- 

 tion and Black River is new to sportsmen. 

 Both of these rivers drain the great Laurentian 

 lakes nor:h of Montreal. Many gentlemen who 

 spend their holidays in pleasure of this nature? 

 never heard of this grand mount tin camping- 

 ground. They generally visit the seaside, 

 where, in many places, good brook trout fish- 

 ing can not easily be obtained. Sometimes they 

 have to go as far from the coast to brooks and 

 lakes, as it is from Montreal to the Black River. 



Entomology. 



THE MILK PLANT. 



Why are its Insect Parasites Red and 

 Black in Colour ? — By the Editor. 

 Mimicry is remarkable in species belonging 

 to almost all Orders of Insects. It is also well 

 defined in some of the reptiles, in the flower- 

 frequenting spiders, and some species of Lepi- 

 doptera. With the exception of the common 

 Tree Prog, (Hyla versicolor), which has the 

 power of imitating the bark color of the tree 

 it rests on ; the spiders belonging to the Genus 

 Thomisidce, the bodies of which are imitative 

 of the colors of the flowers in which they hide, 

 little is known of the cause of certain insects 

 that are parasites on plants, and which retain 

 colors almost similar to each other. That the 

 provision of the reptile and spider with this 

 power of mimicry is in order to secure their 

 food, is considered a strategy of nature. The 

 tree frog is an arboreal animal, which can 

 change its color to suit almost any place. The 

 spider, in like manner lies like a wolf imbedded 

 in the flower, preferring, in the neighborhood 

 of Montreal, either white or pink and white. 



wherein, with its fore feet erect, it is ready to 

 pounce on any unlucky insect coming within 

 its reach. These instances are understood by 

 the watchful studentof nature. What is wished 

 to be inquired into, is the cause of a number of 

 insects occurring evidently as parasites on a 

 single plant, and all the insects having a pre- 

 dominating color, either red or black. This 

 study is certainly interesting, and it has led to 

 these remarks, from the fact that the occur- 

 rence have frequently been noticed on the com- 

 mon Milk Weed (Asclepias). Why are all, and 

 there are quite a number of insects of different 

 Orders, which frequent or feed on the plant 

 during summer, red and black, or entirely 

 red in color? A coleopterous insect (Tetraopes 

 tetraophthalmus) is totally red above, with 

 black elytral spots. Another coleojjterous 

 beetle, Labidomera trimaculata ; elytra, red 

 and black. The two latter feed on the plant. 

 An insect of the order Hemiptera, occurs com- 

 mon on the Milk Plant in June. It is blood 

 red in its early stages ; indeed on several occa- 

 sions last year, the above beetles and their 

 larvae in conqjany with the red Hemipterous 

 bug crowded the plant, and the contrast 

 between the downy green leaves blending with 

 the red and black colours of the insects was 

 what led to this inquiry. Every entomologist 

 knows the butterfly (Datiais arcliippus), also 

 red and black, in the imago form, whose cater- 

 pillar feeds on the Milk Plant. There are 

 doubtless other parasitic insects which may 

 have been overlooked. When the plant is in 

 flower, it is an excellent one for the entomolo- 

 gist to visit — even at night it attracts a few rare 

 moths. Lastly, it may here be remarked, that 

 a Dipterous, or two-winged fly (Tachiua) — 

 having a red body, covered with hair, is fond — 

 of sucking the flowers in daytime. There are 

 some profound inquiries to be made in relation 

 to the above insects and their connection in 

 regard to color, with the plant as food. The 

 larvte of the archippus butterfly has no red 

 colour, but the imago has it abundantly. In 

 the transformation of L. trimaculata, its lar- 



