112 
LETTEES EEOM ALABAMA. 
tliree-foiirtlis of an inch in length, and two inches 
and a half in spread of wing ; the body is greyish 
green, spotted with black, the abdomen yellow ; the 
wings are ample, perfectly transparent, colourless 
(except the nervures, and a few black dots), and 
glistening, very much like a thin lamina of talc. 
It is a pretty little creature. As I was examining 
it in my hand, contemplating the addition it would 
make to my cabinet, it suddenly stretched out its 
shining wings, and away it flew to the leafy 
branches of a tall hickory-tree. Its flight was 
straight, and somewhat heavy. The genus is 
commonly known here by the erroneous name of 
locust.” 
The Purple Grakles {Qutscalus versicolor) are 
now numerous ; in the evening they sit congregated 
together side by side, as close as they can place 
themselves, on the high branches of the dead pines 
that overlook the clearings. As they sit, they 
every now and then open their wings, uttering at 
the same time a querulous sort of low note. 
What, a most magnificent plant is the Trumpet- 
flower {Bignonia radicans) ! It is a climbing 
shrub, embracing the trunks of the largesf oaks to 
the height of thirty or forty feet, with handsome 
pinnate leaves, and spikes of splendid trumpet- 
shaped blossoms, each three inches in length, of a 
brilliant orange-red, projecting from a deep cup- 
shaped calyx of shining scarlet. The stalks are 
numerous, and the foliage so thick as to cover the 
trunk of the tree, from which the clasters of noble 
flowers profusely hang, clothing the dead and sap- 
less oak with a verdure and a beauty not its own, 
and thus repaying with ample interest all obliga- 
tions for the support it receives. In some flelds. 
