280 
THE CANADIAN IS^ATURALIST. 
something disgusting in these slimy^ sluggish lizards^, which 
does not appear in the agile kinds that live among the leaves 
in the woods^ and dart along like lightning on our approach. 
F. — I have taken a pretty kind (Salamandra Rubra ?) 
in watery situations ; dark red on the back^ with bright 
spots ; the belly orange red with dark spots : it swims 
nimbly and gracefully. 
C. — A few nights ago, as I was wTiting near an open 
window, a number of very minute Dayflies (Ephemera) 
not half as large as a gnat, flew in, attracted by the light, 
and grovelled on the table and paper before me. They did 
not seem capable of rising again, but spun round here and 
there ; they kept on flouncing down upon the paper one after 
another for some time, so that it was not an accidental 
thing, for the actions of all were the same. 
F, — Minute flies, I have noticed, will often grovel about 
a bright surface, such as a book, &c. by candlelight ; pro- 
bably not aware of the obstruction until they feel it. 
C. — About the beginning of this month, I found feeding 
on the hop, a large, reddish, spinous caterpillar, somewhat 
resembling that of the Painted Lady (Cynthia Cardui), 
which soon after became a gilded chrysalis. It has this 
morning produced that large and handsome Butterfly, the 
Violet -tip (Grapta C. Aureiim), after having been eleven 
days in the pupa state. — — Here is a young sphinx 
caterpillar, feeding on a willow ; it is rough, light green, 
with yellowish slanting stripes. I presume it is the larva of 
the Twin-eyed Hawk-moth (Smerinthus Geminatus,) Is 
there any means of ascertaining the sex of a caterpillar ? 
F. — The sex of insects is not developed until they 
attain the imago state ; but I have been able to determine 
in some instances the future sex by the size of the caterpil- 
lar, particularly of moths belonging to the division Bomhyx, 
I have never discovered the eggs in the body of the larva. 
