LETTERS FROM ALABAMA, 
237 
side, which have a very ornamental appearance. 
The plant is called the Burning Bush [Euonymus 
angustifolius)^ from its brilliant appearance both in 
blossom and fruit. The flowers, which were numerous 
in June, were yellow and red, but they have now given 
place to a multitude of berries, about as large as a 
cherry. These are of a flesh-colour, or salmon-pink, 
and when ripe, they open by a cross-like fissure, 
dividing into four lobes, and revealing four seeds 
within, of a brilliant scarlet hue, so that a playful 
imagination might fancy the bush to be on fire. 
The architectural instincts of many Hymenop- 
terous insects have always afforded matter of admi- 
ration to the students of natural history. I have 
recently had opportunities of making some obser- 
vations of interest on some little-known species, 
and as the investigations have now become mature, 
will make known the results to you. 
One of the many things that struck my attention 
on first coming into these parts, was to see, in most 
of the farm-houses, lumps of yellowish mud stuck 
on the walls and rafters, and particularly on the 
large projecting chimneys. Some of these were of 
irregular shape, nearly as large as one’s fist, and 
others were cylindrical, as thick as one’s thumb, 
and three or four inches long. The little boys 
(and boys in these backwoods, as I have before 
intimated, know a good deal about natural history) 
informed me that these were the nests of the Dirt- 
daubers ; and on taking down one of the shapeless 
lumps which had been fixed on the wall right over 
my bed’s head, and carefully opening it, I found 
within it many long-oval cells, lined with a thin 
coat of brittle shelly substance. These were ar- 
ranged side by side in two rows, each containing 
