December 26, 1884.] 



SciE-Nei 



EfALMANACii 



567 



bee (Bombus) are conspicuous. Among Coleop- 

 tera. the blister-beetles (Meloidae) and the tiger- 

 beetles (Cicindelidae)are noticeable ; and the painted 

 clvtus (Cyllene pictus), with its black-and-yellow 

 banded coat, will be common in houses where 

 hickory- wood is used in the fires. Among Lepidop- 

 tera, the blues (Lycaenidae), the monarch or milk- 

 weed butterfly (Danais archippus), the Graptas, and 

 Eudamus bathyllus will be seen. Among Orthop- 

 tera, the Acridium americanum and Oedipoda 

 phoenicoptera will be noticeable among wintering 

 forms on account of their large size. 



May. — In this month the hibernated legion is 

 warmed to new life, and the number of species oc- 

 curring is too great to warrant special indication. 

 The large tiger swallow-tail (Papilio turnus) darts 

 swiftly about, while a lot of humbler butterflies are 

 seen. Those gigantic beauties of the night, the 

 Cecropia moth (Platysamia cecropia) and the Poly- 

 phemus moth (Telea polyphemus), are seen hanging 

 listless as they just issue from their cocoons, or 

 pass bat-like at dusk overhead. Some of the 

 hawk-moths (Sphingidae) already begin to hover 

 at twilight, humming-bird fashion, over honeysuckle 

 and other honey-yielding flowers. The carpenter 

 moth (Xyleutes robiniae) will be found early in the 

 morning, resting on the trunk of the black locust, 

 from which the empty pupal exuvium sticks out as 

 an index. A host of Hymenoptera make their ad- 

 vent : and noticeably the gigantic saw-fly (Cimbex 

 americana) will be found ovipositing in willow 

 leaves, and the pigeon Tremex (Tremex columba) 

 in old maple trunks. The buffalo-gnat (Simulium) 

 swarms in the lower Mississippi country to the in- 

 jury of all kinds of stock. The fruit-grower finds 

 the plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar) making 

 its dreaded crescent-mark on his fruit, and the 

 canker-worms blighting his apple-trees. The house- 

 keeper observes with dread the various clothes- 

 moths (Tinea) and the carpet-beetle (Anthrenus 

 scrophulariae). But the latter part of the month is 

 chiefly characterized, first, by the hosts of delicate 

 May-flies (Ephemeridae) which issue from our rivers 

 in the sub-imago state, and, attracted to the light, 

 crowd on windows and around lamps; second, by 

 the swarms of more robust May-beetles (Lachno- 

 gterna fusca), which begin to defoliate oak-groves 

 and poplar-trees. 



June. — During this leafy month, when nature's 

 pulses beat most strongly, insect-life is at its acme. 

 The army-worm marches through meadow and 

 grain-field, and a host of destructive species gather 

 force and spread dismay. The woods and meadows 



abound in gaudy butterflies, and multiform cater- 

 pillars feed voraciously. The commoner firefly 

 (Photinus pyralis) rises slowly from the moist 

 ground at eve, and intermits its soft, glowing light. 

 But the month is chiefly characterized by the ap- 

 pearance of that singular periodical, or seventeen- 

 year Cicada (Cicada septendecim), with its iredecim, 

 or thirteen-year race. The woods rattle with its 

 hoarse beat about the first of the month, and broods 

 appear in some locality or other nearly every year. 

 The present year (1885) is a memorable one; for 

 a very extensive seventeen-year brood, which ap- 

 peared last in 1868, and has been fully recorded 

 every seventeen years since 171 5, may be looked 

 for on Long Island and in Monroe county, N.Y., in 

 south-eastern Massachusetts, in parts of Vermont, 

 Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, in north-western Ohio, in south- 

 eastern Michigan, in Indiana, and in Kentucky. 



July. — With the great heat of July there is less 

 variety of insect-life than in June, and the month 

 is chiefly notable for the tormentors. Horse-flies 

 (Tabanidae) interfere with the ploughman's work, 

 mosquitoes swarm to such an extent in the north- 

 west as to render travel for both man and beast 

 positively dangerous, while the bot-flies (Oestridae) 

 attack horses, cattle, and sheep. The nests of the 

 tent-caterpillar (Clisiocampa americana) and of 

 the fall web-worm (Hyphantria textor) disfigure 

 orchard and forest, and the tumble-dungs (Canthon) 

 assiduously roll their balls of dung. The harsh 

 rattle of the dog-day harvest-fly (Cicada canicularis) 

 is also first heard. 



August. — In this month thefossorial Hymenop- 

 tera most abound, and the numerous locusts (Acri- 

 didae) begin to get their wings, and reach their 

 greatest destructiveness. The katydids and the 

 tree-crickets also become full-fledged, and join the 

 other insect stridulators which fill the late summer 

 and autumn nights with sound. The cotton-worm 

 does its greatest mischief in the south, and the 

 chinch-bug leaves the wheat-fields for the maize. 

 Many true bugs (Hemiptera) get their wings, among 

 which the wheel-bug (Reduvius novenarius) is con- 

 spicuous. The dragon-flies (Libellulidae) are more 

 numerous, and the mantis (Mantis Carolina) and the 

 walking-stick (Diapheromera femorata) acquire full 

 growth, and are more noticeable than formerly. 



September. — Many of the insects of the preced- 

 ing month are still more noticeable in this, while 

 few new ones appear. The blister-beetles and a 

 vast number of smaller Hymenoptera abound on 

 the flowers of the golden-rod; and most species are 



