552 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
set, often alighting upon the fence or the ground. We first discover- 
ed them by their peculiar hissing, like the BEN of a cat; the only 
other sound we have heard them emit is a faint ‘‘hoo-hoo,” though 
hile these six were in sight, we have heard the cry of the ordinary 
screech-owl in a grove at some dista 
Thus much for the owls, but oy pee of Ornithology, we can re- 
sort to the insects, some of whom return the compliment by resorting 
to us; for we frequently tind, in damp weather, a spider’s web extend- 
ing across the door (one in constant use), or from the inkstand to the 
ceiling 
The first week in May I found lying upon the ground a large chrys- 
alis, which was at once placed with some earth in a vacant flower-pot, 
and on the first of July its inhabitant appeared, and proved a stranger 
tous; a large yellow moth with brown markings, yon looking as if 
peppered with minute brown dots. After a close study of Harris's 
Insects, we made it out to be the imperial moth, Dryocampa imperialis. 
The specimen is a female, and has been ae for the future to 
contemplate surrounding objects from the head of a large pin, in com- 
pany; with various others of its tribe. 
n we weary of insects, there are the reptiles, toads, snakes, 
and E ON the latter all sizes and kinds,—huge snappin 
inhabit a small pond, the shores of which furnish a home to the crest- 
ed king-fisher, as well as the fish-hawk; IS yellow land-turtles, and 
brook-turtles, in small compact boxes. I have witnessed on our 
swallowing a toad, though in this instance he was not allowed to 
finish his meal in safety; but I FAN failed, in spite of all my efforts, 
thus far, to hear the song of the 
aaa when reptiles fail, al is the beach with its shells and 
other waifs of interest, to say nothing of crabs, pony nd porpoises; 
but SON is a greater marvel to me than all the rest is, that such & 
wealth of animal life should exist unmolested ats twenty miles of 
New York city, and in such a Larap resort, that one may turn from 
the contemplation of Nat to that of Fashion or Art in all their 
splendor and RODE I aa one moment, and flounces the 
next, —water-fowl and water-falls in conjunction, —but—lest you 
sliouid think I mean to rival the spider who spun from the inkstand to 
the ceiling, I will break my thread at once. —C. P1ERREPONT, | ry 
Nose, N.Y. | : 
. ‘Tun TIGER-BEETLE. —The Cicindela represents among insects the 
ao character of the Tiger. Its large, powerful head, with its enormous , 
issor-] like Jaws, its light body, e elegant form a s colors, to- 
with its s ferocious habits, prove its right to the name. The 
