54 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
July ls£ and 5th. Rye harvest. 
Observed the Night-Hawk, (Caprimulgus America- 
nus,) in search of gnats, just at sun-set, the time at 
which it usually appears for this purpose. I have heard 
it, however, at noon. It soars very high in the air, 
and then darts in an almost perpendicular direction, and 
with great velocity on its prey, which is commonly in 
thick swarms near the ground. At the moment of turning 
to ascend again, it utters a shrill kind of noise, something 
like the croaking of a bull frog. This remarkable note, I 
cannot find mentioned by any ornithologist. I suppose it 
is occasioned by the sudden entrance of the air into the 
throat, through the small aperture in the thin membrane 
which lines the mouth. On capturing its prey, the mandi- 
bles are widely expanded, and then this thin membrane 
is stretched or tightened like the head of a drum. 
8th. The Locusts have ceased to sing, and the branches 
of the trees are loaded with their eggs. They seem to 
prefer the apple trees for this purpose. 
IQth. A species of Cerambyx seen. The elitra are of a 
dusky orange colour, with six black spots. 
The apterous insect, which I mentioned on the 28th of 
June, as infesting the raspberry, I placed in a box, where, 
after fastening itself by the tail, it assumed in a few days 
the appearance of a spotted curculio. Its covering, which 
it has now left, looks like a cocinella punctata, or hie- 
roglyphia. The animal in its larva or catterpillar state, 
fed upon the raspberry — but in its winged form, (though 
raspberries were in the box,) I found it eating a decayed in- 
sect. Quere : Do not other insects, which undergo a 
similar metamorphosis, also change the quality of their 
food? 
The young of the Picus Pubescens flew into one of my 
rooms. When I took it into my hands it uttered most 
piteous cries, and appeared greatly enraged. It plucked 
with its bill some feathers from its wings, and pecked fu- 
riously at my hand. As I held it by the wings, its strug- 
gles were so violent as to break off the principal bone of 
one wing near the shoulder. I judged it to be a young 
bird from the smallness of the red mark on the back of the 
head. In other particulars, it exactly agrees with Wilson’s 
plate of the Picus Pubescens. 
14 th. Cerambyx Cinnamomeus, found in decayed wood 
— all the species of this genus which I have seen, make a 
sort of squeaking noise when held in the hand. 
Scarabaeus Carolinus common at night. The muscular 
strength of this insect is remarkably great, and may be il- 
lustrated by placing it under the hollow bottom of a large 
candlestick; in its endeavours to escape it will move the 
candlestick along the top of the table, much to the surprise 
of those who are unacquainted with the cause. 
The common Locust, (grillus,) heard. The note of this 
is very different from that of the Cicada septemdecima. 
The Brown Caterpillar mentioned on the 19th of June 
last, is now a Brown Butterfly; the lower wings of 
which have similar orange spots to those on the back, be- 
sides some others of a different colour. Quere: Do not 
the colours in the caterpillar, in every case, resemble 
those of the butterfly it produces? The chrysalis of this 
insect splits open in the back near the head. 
20^A. Young Swalloivs now leave the nest. I saw 
numbers of them on the fences, which were so tame as 
to be easily captured. Pyrola maculata in flowers. I saw 
also some blossoms of the Pyrola Umbellata, and P. Rotun- 
difolia. These last, however, are now dropping off. The 
leaves of the P. Maculata and P. Umbellata, are used by 
the farmers in this neighbourhood as a blister, instead of 
the Spanish-fly, (lytta vesicatoria,) and they supply its 
place very well. 
2 5th. A Caterpillar of a pea-green colour, with two white 
lines down the back, having two tails, made its appearance. 
I enclosed one in a box, and found that it does not undergo 
the transformation usual to caterpillars. It fastened itself 
in a horizontal position to the top of the box, where re- 
maining motionless for some hours, it burst open, and the 
whole of its body, except the upper skin, the head and 
tails, were converted into green eggs, of an eliptical form, 
thirty-eight in number. The other parts then fell off. The 
caterpillar was about an inch long. I do not find in M. de 
Reaumur’s Insects any account of a similar process. Quere: 
Might not these eggs have been those of the Ichneumon, 
deposited in the body of the caterpillar! 
JLugust 20. Caty-dids sing about this time. 
29th. Hops (humulus lupulus,) are pulled. The vul- 
gar notion is, that a September wind must not blow upon 
them. 
Potatoes are gathered in. 
A beautiful Glow-worm , which I cannot find described, 
was taken in the woods. It measured two inches; its co- 
lour on the back, when examined by the light of a candle, 
was of a dirty orange-yellow, with whitish bands, which 
formed the articulation of the worm; the under side was of 
a lighter colour. But when examined by a faint light, 
or in the dark, it presents a most brilliant appearance. 
The whitish bands which formed the articulations, and 
which were twelve in number, then assumed a strong and 
steady phosphorescent light, something like the evanescent 
glow of the common fire-fly. The articulation near the 
head was by no means so bright as the others, and the one 
next the tail, was interrupted in the middle of the back. 
Very near the termination of each of the little luminous 
bands on the sides, there was a bright spot, about the size 
