48 EFFECTS OF COLD ON THE WYCH. 
nearly fed for its change, becomes heavy, and commonly 
falls to the earth from the spray, and we can see them 
crawling along the paths, or even upon the clothes of 
persons that have walked under the trees where they 
have fed : though this creature is very often found in 
considerable numbers throughout the summer and au- 
tumn, yet by reason of some fatality, the moth is by no 
means so common an insect as might be expected from 
the profusion of its larvas. 
We have no indigenous tree that suffers from the ad- 
vance of the winter season so early as the wych elm. 
A few others may manifest its approach nearly as soon, 
but they become augmented in splendor by a touch 
of the frosty air, not ruined and denuded like our elm, 
which contributes no grandeur, no beauty, to our au- 
tumnal scenery, as its leaves curl up, become brown, 
and flutter from their sprays, when growing in exposed 
situations, as early often as the middle of September, 
by constitutional mechanism alone, even before the 
beech or the maple seems sensibly affected by the cold. 
This character of itself marks a difference from the 
common elm, which preserves its verdure, except from 
accidental causes, long after this period ; and then, 
when its season arrives, the foliage becomes tinged with 
a fine, mellow, yellow hue, contributing a full share 
with other trees to the character and splendor of autumn. 
The wych elm may occasionally be desirable in the few 
days that our northern summer requires its deep shades, 
but will not otherwise afford pleasure or beauty in the 
shrubbery or the park as an ornamental tree, as its 
leafless sprays announce too early the unwelcome ter- 
mination of our floral year, and its sober russet foliage 
is scattered at our feet without preparation or a parting 
smile. 
Trees in full foliage have long been noted as great 
attractors of humidity, and a young wych elm in full 
leaf affords a good example of this supposed power; 
but in the winter of the year, when trees are perfectly 
denuded, this faculty of creating moisture about them 
is equally obvious, though not so profusely. A strongly 
marked instance of this was witnessed by me, when 
