218. Tachina.
The beautiful moth, Adela, with its immensely long antennæ, may be seen, with other smaller moths, feeding on the blossoms of the willow. The Ants wake from their winter's sleep and throw up their hillocks, and the "thriving pismire" issues from his vaulted galleries constructed in some decaying log or stump, while the Angle worms emulate late their six-footed neighbors. During the mild days of March, ere the snow has melted away—
"The dandy Butterfly,
All exquisitely drest,"
will visit our gardens. Such are various kinds of Vanessa and Grapta (Fig. 217, G. c-argenteum[30]). The beautiful Brephos infans flies before the snow disappears.
"The Gnat, old back-bent fellow,
In frugal frieze coat drest,"
will celebrate the coming of Spring, with his choral dance. Such is Trichocera hyemalis, which may be seen in multitudes towards twilight on mild evenings. Many flies are now on the wing, such as Tachina (Fig. 218) and its allies; the four spotted Mosquito, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, and the delicate species of Chironomus, whose males have such beautifully feathered antennæ, assemble in swarms. Now is the time for the collector to turn up stones and sticks by the river's side and in grassy damp pastures, for Ground beetles (Carabidæ), and to frequent sunny paths for the gay Cicindela and the Bombylius fly, or fish in brooks and pools for water beetles and various larvæ of Neuroptera and Diptera; while many flies and beetles are attracted to freshly cut maples or birches running with sap; indeed, many insects, rarely found elsewhere, assemble in quantities about the stumps of these trees, from which the sap oozes in March and April.
In April the injurious insects in the Northern States have scarcely begun their work of destruction, as the buds do not unfold before the first of May. We give an account, however, of some of the beneficial insects which are now to be found in grass-lands and in gardens. The farmer should know his true insect friends as well as his insect foes. We introduce to our readers a large family of ground-beetles (Carabidæ, from Carabus, the name of the typical genus) which prey on those insects largely injurious to crops. A study of the figures will familiarize our readers with the principal forms. They are dark-colored, brown or black, with metallic hues, and are seen in spring and throughout the summer, running in grass, or lurking under stones and sticks in damp places, whence they sally forth to hunt by night, when many vegetable-eating insects are most active.
219. Calosoma scrutator.
