MARCH 
51 
posing the ray that enters it ; but in this case it was far too 
cold for any rain : if anything was falling between you and 
the sun it must have been snow, and if anything was floating 
in the air^ it must have been minute spicules or crystals of 
ice. The haze you speak of was doubtless the cause, and 
the reason why the circle was not perfect was^ that the mist 
extended no higher than the point at which the arcs ceased 
to be visible. 
C. — After the sun was set, the mist was much more 
distinctly visible^ and I observed that it abruptly ended at 
about that height. 
F, — You have not yet observed any symptoms of activity 
in the insect tribes^ I presume ? 
C. — Few_, except such as are to be found throughout the 
winter,, are to be met with : a few tipulidan gnats fly abroad 
on sunshiny days. I have lately observed in pine-woods in 
one particular place, several insects crawling about the snow, 
exactly resembling small Tipulce, even having halteres, but • 
totally destitute of wings. They are about one-fourth of an 
inch in length : they have been rather numerous ; I took six 
of them in one evening. 
F, — • They are doubtless the Chionea Aj^aneoides : it is 
singular that I have observed these in company with another 
very remarkable apterous insect, belonging to a winged fa- 
mily, ( Panorpidce,) in some numbers. I allude to Boreus 
Hyemalis, an insect much like a flea. I have never seen 
either but in one spot, the black -woods to the south of the 
Masuippi, near its junction with the Coatacook ; it was at 
this season and on the snow. 
C. — That is the same place at which I found them. 
And what is likewise remarkable, I found, a few days ago, a 
moth crawling on the snow, a rather large Tortrix ; but 
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