290 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
NEEDLE ICHNEUMON. 
Pelecmus Polycerator. 
tor) ; its flight is ra- 
ther heavy and slow ; 
the sting or ovipositor 
is concealed^ but the 
last segment of the 
body is pointed, and 
when held in the hand 
it strives to wound^ by 
striking blows with the 
point of the abdomen : it is capable of giving a slight punc- 
ture, attended with only a transient smart. The long abdo- 
men is usually carried in a curve,, the end bent under : the 
hindmost shanks ( tibice ) have a remarkable swelling. It is 
found from Canada to Alabama^ but does not appear to be 
numerous anywhere. . ' . 
C. — The down of the Canada Thistle begins to be borne 
about on the wind^ filling the air at intervals with clouds of 
the little feathery aeronauts ; especially when a flock of the 
brilliant . little Yellow-birds ( FringiUa Tristis ) are busily 
engaged in a bed of these plants^ pecking away at the downy 
headS;, to get at the seeds beneath^ and dispersing whole 
hosts of the egrets at every touch. On those flowers of the 
thistle which have not yet ripened^ the Pearl-border Fritil- 
lary ( Melitcea Myrina ) is numerous, frisking to and fro, 
and opening and shutting its tessellated wings in the sun. 
F, — Here is a sight which ought to open the heart with 
gratitude : our fields of ripe golden grain ; the bright-yellow 
feathery oats, waving lightly in the breeze, which plays over 
their changing surface, as over a summer sea ; the more so- 
ber-coloured and heavier, but not less valuable, wheat, the 
staff of life the buckwheat, a plant having considerable 
claims to beauty, with its deep green, heart-shaped leaves^ 
