250 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
become a chrysalis of a drab hue^ tinged with green in 
some places ; the pointed projections of the head curving 
towards each other. 
F, — It is the larva and pupa of the Grey Comma 
( Grapta C, Argenteum)^ and will probably attain the per- 
fect state in a few days. 
C. — A delicate little Dragon-fly ( Agrion ~ — — ? ) with 
a red body^ may be seen in some numbers on fine days, sail- 
ing slowly over the spring in the pasture^ occasionally resting 
with erect closed wings on the weeds and grass : and I have 
taken a still prettier species near the village, with the abdo- 
men banded with black and bright sky blue alternately : 
( Agrion Puella ), These are elegant little creatures. 
F. — One would suppose that they are incapable of any 
long continued exertion ; they appear so frail, and fly so 
languidly. Yet this may not be the case. Once, in coming 
through the Gulf of Florida, on a calm afternoon, on looking 
over the side of the ship, I was surprised to see close to the 
surface of the water, a little Agrion, much like the first you 
described, now and then alighting on the side of the vessel, 
then flitting off, and playing over the surface. We w^ere 
then twenty miles from the nearest land, and the ship had 
not been within ten miles of land for many days, having 
been last lying in Mobile Bay, many miles from the town. 
At length it alighted under the counter of the ship, and I 
did not see it again. 
C. — What are these curious excrescences growing on the 
bark of this old stump ? 
F, — They are a species of Fungus ( Boletus Igniarius ), 
called the Hoof Boletus, from a resemblance which they often 
bear in shape to a horse's hoof: they may be seen from the 
size of a walnut to a foot or more in diameter, varying in 
