BANISTERIA

A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

\ NRA

Roger H. de Rageot (1931-2006)

Roger H. de Rageot was a renaissance naturalist who worked for the former Norfolk Museum of Natural History from 1952 to 1967. This issue contains an obituary and the first half of his unpublished manuscript on the natural history of the Great Dismal Swamp and nearby areas.

Number 29 ISSN 1066-0712 2007

BANISTERIA

A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF VIRGINIA ISSN 1066-0712 Published by the Virginia Natural History Society

The Virginia Natural History Society (VNHS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the dissemination of scientific information on all aspects of natural history in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including botany, zoology, ecology, archeology, anthropology, paleontology, geology, geography, and climatology. Membership in VNHS includes a subscription to Banisteria. Annual dues are $20.00 (per calendar year); library subscriptions to Banisteria are $40.00. Subscribers/members outside the United States should add $3.00 for additional postage. Checks should be made payable to the Virginia Natural History Society. Membership dues and inquires should be directed to the Secretary-Treasurer (address, page 2); correspondence regarding Banisteria to one of the co-editors. Banisteria is a peer-reviewed journal. The editors will consider manuscripts on any aspect of natural history from neighboring states if the information concerns a species native to Virginia or the topic is directly related to regional natural history (as defined above). For additional information regarding the VNHS, including other membership categories, field events, meetings, representative papers from past issues of Banisteria, and instructions for prospective authors, consult our website at: va-nhs.org

Editorial Staff: Banisteria Co-editors

Joseph C. Mitchell, Department of Biology University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia 23173

Steven M. Roble, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Division of Natural Heritage, 217 Governor Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219

Associate Editors

Richard L. Hoffman, Virginia Museum of Natural History Martinsville, Virginia 24112

Alfred G. Wheeler, Jr., Department of Entomology Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634

Thomas F. Wieboldt, Department of Biology Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061

Banisteria No. 28 was published on 23 March 2007.

Cover: Roger de Rageot contemplating in the Great Dismal Swamp (photograph by David Liebman). Back cover: Canebrake Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), pen and ink drawing by Roger de Rageot.

BANISTERIA

A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Number 29, 2007

A Flora of Fisherman Island, Virginia Aullen-Belden, Ui and Oro tye TE Glee scevtoncresnnastesce aasactvnoncesT ys ued efsannaneyey aces nontaedeahautébeannenenceddUppeurpgnentere enn 3

A Survey of Macrolepidopteran Moths of Turkey Run and Great Falls National Parks, Fairfax County, Virginia Brent W. Steury, John Glaser, and Christopher S. Hobson ..0....0.0....00000cccccccccccccccseeeeseeeteeeeeesecetsseeteetensateenees 17

Shorter Contributions

Macrolophus brevicornis on Triosteum perfoliatum in Virginia: State Record and New Host-Plant Record

for Miridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

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Observations on a Malformed American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) from Fairfax County, Virginia Jason D. Gibson, Tony Bulmer, and John White .......000000000ccc ccc cccccceeccnsseeteceeeceeeeeesecteeeeeeseettseteseetteteeeeess 35

Message from a Peat Bank: First Record for the Eastern Mud Turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum subrubrum) from Cobb Island, Virginia ETA EDD Roe NVI CLI UL ey cov cs ac cEleat rece ee eta tO een dace cede lets ac tc BR obuvun ee eee acho soe aot twee 36

Miscellanea

Obituary: Roger de Rageot

Joseph C. Mitchell and David Labatt... .....0.ccccs seeps erescensnceeerssivnnnenserssopantseessunnierebiss ee setts seria neautecvucssbthdvoss 39 My Favorite Story about Roger Rageot

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Virginia Natural History Society Officers, 2007

President

Thomas J. McAvoy Department of Entomology Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia 24061

(term expires December, 2008) tmcavoy@vt.edu

Vice President

C. Barry Knisley Department of Biology Randolph-Macon College Ashland, Virginia 23005

(term expires December, 2008)

Secretary-Treasurer

Anne C. Lund Department of Biology Hampden-Sydney College Hampden-Sydney, Virginia 23943 (term expires December, 2008)

alund@hsc.edu Councilors Arthur V. Evans, Richmond (term expires December, 2008) Janet W. Reid, Martinsville (term expires December, 2009) Michael LaChance, Shipman (term expires December, 2010)

Honorary Councilors

Richard L. Hoffman Michael Kosztarab

Webmaster

John White

Banisteria, Coeditors

Joseph C. Mitchell Steven M. Roble

Banisteria, Number 29, pages 3-16 © 2007 Virginia Natural History Society

A Flora of Fisherman Island, Virginia

Allen Belden, Jr.

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Division of Natural Heritage 217 Governor Street Richmond, Virginia 23219

Dorothy P. Field

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Division of Natural Heritage P.O. Box 81 Wachapreague, Virginia 23480

ABSTRACT

Fisherman Island is a 750 ha barrier island located off the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge. A total of 256 plant species and subspecific taxa are reported for the island for the 2005 growing season. These include 14 new Northampton County, Virginia, records and five state-rare taxa. About 30% of the plant species observed are not native to the island, and a few of these are invasive species. The most serious invasive species and the only one that appears to be a current threat to the island’s rare species is Phragmites australis var. australis (Common Reed).

Key words: barrier island, Fisherman Island, Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge, flora, invasive species,

Northampton County, rare plants.

INTRODUCTION

In 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) contracted the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage (DCR-DNH) to conduct a botanical inventory of Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge, Northampton County, Virginia. Specifically, the agreement required DCR-DNH to conduct a survey for rare plant species on Fisherman Island, develop a list of all vascular plant species encountered on the island while conducting rare plant surveys, and develop a list of invasive plant species found on the island. This paper reports on the results of this work.

STUDY AREA

Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge (FINWR) is coterminous with Fisherman Island (FI), a barrier island

located about 0.5 km south of the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula. Fisherman Island is of recent origin; documented evidence of an island in the area dates back only to 1815. Unlike other barrier islands in Virginia, FI is increasing in size. In 1852, the island consisted of about 10 ha, whereas today it comprises about 750 ha (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2005).

Fisherman Island has a long history of human use and occupation. Early residents used the island for hunting and fishing. In the 1890s, the island was acquired by the U.S. government and used as a quarantine station for European immigrants sailing up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore. The island was used as a defense station by the U.S. Army during both World Wars because of its strategic location at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, and remained a military installation until the 1960s. FINWR was established in 1969 and is managed by the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge, USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2005).

4 BANISTERIA

In 1964, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) opened; a second span was added in 1999. The CBBT connects Virginia’s Eastern Shore with the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach via U.S. Route 13. Route 13 crosses the eastern end of the island for a length of about 2.75 km (1.70 mi). To the north, a high-level bridge across Fisherman Inlet connects FI with the Eastern Shore mainland. To the south-southwest, a series of low-level trestle bridges, high-level bridges, and underwater tunnels connect FI with Cape Henry, a distance of about 25 km (16 mi) by road (Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission, 2006).

We identified the following natural community types (described in Fleming et al., 2006) on the island: Maritime Dune Grasslands, Maritime Dune Scrub, Maritime Dune Woodlands, Maritime Wet Grasslands, Maritime Shrub Swamps, Tidal Mesohaline and Polyhaline Marshes, Salt Flats, Salt Scrub, and Upper Beaches and Overwash Flats.

Ruderal habitats on the island include frequently mowed grassy strips along the edges of Route 13, a small paved parking area, partially shaded areas adjacent to bridge abutments, areas of riprap used to support elevated portions of Route 13, areas around military bunkers, and areas around the foundations of former buildings.

METHODS

Before conducting fieldwork for this project, we gathered information on the study area’s landscape. Aerial photographs and topographic maps were examined to delineate the distribution of plant habitats and to identify sites with high potential for rare species occurrences. Harvill et al. (1992) and the DCR-DNH rare species databases were utilized to develop a list of potential rare plants for FI based on rare plants known to occur elsewhere on Virginia’s barrier islands and other maritime habitats. We used data compiled on the area’s rare plants, along with information on the distribution of plant habitats, to formulate field plans and direct our field investigations.

Fieldwork for the project began 17 May 2005 and ended 13 October 2005. We spent 12 days in the field and focused our surveys on plant communities with a high potential for rare species. In order to develop the flora list, however, all known plant communities on the island were visited; we visited most of these communities at least twice during the growing season to capture species present at different times of the year. Beach and adjacent dune communities around the perimeter of the island could not be accessed until mid-summer due to the presence of nesting American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus).

NO. 29, 2007

We maintained a list of all plant taxa encountered on FI and used Gleason & Cronquist (1991) to key out species whose identities were uncertain. A draft of a flora in progress, Weakley (2004), was consulted for more recent treatments. Harvill et al. (1992) was used to determine if each taxon had previously been collected in Northampton County. We collected voucher specimens of taxa new to the county and kept a separate list of invasive species encountered on the island.

Special emphasis was placed on searching for Amaranthus pumilus (Seabeach Amaranth), a potential species for the island that is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Seabeach Amaranth is found exclusively on barrier island beaches, where it usually occurs on stable upper beach shelves between the wrackline and foredune crest, on overwash flats, or on the accreting ends of islands. We searched all potential habitat on the island for this species during August and September. A previous search for the species on FI was conducted in 2000 (Belden, 2000). The only known extant population of this species in Virginia is on Assateague Island in Accomack County (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2005).

RESULTS

A total of 256 plant species and subspecific taxa was recorded for FI. These are listed in Table 1 and include 3 pteridophytes, 2 gymnosperms, 161 dicot angiosperms, and 90 monocot angiosperms. These 256 taxa represent 65 plant families and 174 genera. The Poaceae (grass family) has by far the largest number of taxa, containing 59 taxa (23.0% of the flora). The Asteraceae (aster family) has 40 taxa (16% of the flora), and the Cyperaceae (sedge family) has 17 taxa (7% of the flora). The 256 taxa compare with 139 taxa reported by Boulé (1979) for the island and 238 reported by Stalter & Lamont (2000).

Sixty-nine of the plant taxa documented during our study were new records for Fisherman Island (Table 1). Fourteen of these taxa also were new records for Northampton County based on Harvill et al. (1992). Voucher specimens for 13 of these taxa were deposited at the herbarium of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI). A photograph of Heliotropium curassavicum was sent to VPI to voucher that species as a county record due to the small size of the population.

Five taxa documented from FI are considered rare in Virginia by DCR-DNH (Townsend, 2005). These are Chamaesyce bombensis (Southern Beach Spurge), Heliotropium curassavicum var. curassavicum (Seaside Heliotrope), Hydrocotyle bonariensis (Coastal Water-

BELDEN & FIELD: FLORA OF FISHERMAN ISLAND 5

pennywort), Physalis walteri (Dune Ground-cherry), and Polygonum glaucum (Sea-beach Knotweed). None of these species are listed under either the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, or the Virginia Endangered Plant and Insect Species Act, as amended. Each of these species is discussed below. Amaranthus pumilus was not found on the island.

Chamaesyce bombensis

This prostrate annual herb in the Euphorbiaceae is found on dunes and other open, sandy habitats along or near the coast. Its range in the U.S. encompasses all of the Gulf States and southeastern coastal states, and it is also found in tropical America. Virginia is the northern limit of its range (Gleason & Cronquist, 1991). Most of the 11 extant Virginia occurrences are on barrier islands (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2005).

We located many hundreds of individuals of Chamaesyce bombensis on FI in 2005. The species is widespread on the island and occurs in a variety of open, sandy habitats, including beaches, primary dunes, secondary dunes, and interior dunes. It appears to favor areas with minimal competition from other plant species. The largest known station for the plant is located on the south side of the island in a shallow, sparsely vegetated swale within a dune grassland community, where we observed an estimated 1,000 plants in a 170 x 10 m area.

Heliotropium curassavicum vat. curassavicum

This somewhat fleshy, prostrate perennial herb is in the Boraginaceae. Plants in our area are var. curassavicum, a plant mostly of saline soil whose range extends north to Maine and south to the New World tropics. Populations north of Delaware are apparently not native, and some authors consider the species to be introduced and naturalized in other areas of the mid- Atlantic as well. Two other varieties are found in the West and Midwest (Gleason & Cronquist, 1991; Kartesz, 1999; McAvoy & Bennett, 2001; Weakley, 2004). The only other known extant population in Virginia is found on Assateague Island, where it was last seen in 1988 (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2005).

We located one individual of Seaside Heliotrope on FI in 2005. This sprawling individual measured about 0.3 x 0.3 m and was partially buried in the sand, making it quite difficult to see. The plant was found on the south side of the island on an overwash flat and inland from a small lagoon that parallels the shore.

Hydrocotyle bonariensis

This perennial herb in the Apiaceae is found on dunes and moist, open sand. Its global distribution includes the coastal U.S. from Virginia to Texas, as well as tropical America (Kartesz, 1999; Weakley, 2004). Prior to our study, this species was known in Virginia only from the City of Virginia Beach and Southampton County, and only three exant Virginia populations were known (Harvill et al., 1992; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2005). The FI occurrence represents the northernmost known location for the species (Harvill et al., 1992; Kartesz, 1999) and a new addition to the flora of the Delmarva Peninsula (W.A. McAvoy, The Delaware Natural Heritage Program, pers. comm. ).

We found several hundred ramets of Hydrocotyle bonariensis within a 25 x 15 m area on the south side of FI. The population is located on the east side and near the toe of a sparsely vegetated low dune ridge and extends eastward into a moist swale dominated by Morella cerifera (Southern Bayberry). We observed about 150 ramets in fruit on 13 October 2005.

Physalis walteri

This rhizomatous perennial herb in the Solanaceae is found along the coast in sandy soil from Louisiana to Virginia, where it reaches its northern range limit (Gleason & Cronquist, 1991; Kartesz, 1999). Most of the 11 known extant populations in Virginia are found on barrier islands or on Cape Henry (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2005).

We observed thousands of Physalis walteri plants on FI, comprising by far the largest known population in Virginia. This species is found in a wide variety of sandy, non-forested habitats, including beaches, dunes, moist swales, and overwash flats. It is a dominant species in many areas of the island and appears to compete quite well with other herbaceous species. It is tolerant of disturbance as evidenced by its prevalence along Route 13. We even found P. walteri growing in a stand of Phragmites australis var. australis (Common Reed).

Polygonum glaucum

This diffusely branched, prostrate annual herb in the Polygonaceae is found on beaches and in dune swales throughout its range (Gleason & Cronquist, 1991). It is known from the eastern seaboard states from Massachusetts south, but is either rare or extirpated in all states except Florida, South Carolina, and Massachusetts (Kartesz, 1999). Most of the nine extant populations in

6 BANISTERIA

Virginia occur on barrier islands or beaches along the Chesapeake Bay (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2005). Polygonum glaucum is considered to be a globally rare species by NatureServe, an international organization focused on the compilation and management of biological data that operates in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

We found about 140 individuals of sea-beach knotweed on FI in five small colonies ranging in size from 2 m* to 2,250 m’. The plant was in found on sand flats and dune swales that appear to receive occasional short duration inundation during storm events.

In addition to the five rare taxa discussed above, we recorded nine species on FI that are considered to be uncommon in Virginia by DCR-DNH (Townsend, 2005). These are Aristida tuberculosa (Seaside Three-awn), Fimbristylis_ caroliniana (Carolina Fimbry), Galium hispidulum (Coastal Bedstraw), //ex vomitoria (Yaupon), Lechea maritima var. virginica (Beach Pinweed), Leptochloa fusca ssp. fascicularis (Bearded Sprangletop), Polygonella_ articulata (Coastal Jointweed), Uniola paniculata (Sea-oats), and Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (Hercules’-club).

Approximately 30% of the taxa that we recorded on FI are non-native plants that have become naturalized on the island. This compares with 29% reported by Stalter & Lamont (2000). The vast majority of these are roadside weeds found only in the frequently mowed grassy strips immediately adjacent to Route 13, but a few are invasive species. An invasive plant is a non-native species that has been intentionally or unintentionally introduced into an area by human activity and threatens to displace native species, alter natural communities, and change ecosystem processes (Heffernan, 1998). Invasive species found on FI include Ailanthus altissima_ (Tree-of-heaven), Artemisia stelleriana (Dusty Miller), Artemisia vulgaris (Common Wormwood), Bromus tectorum (Cheat Grass), Carex extensa (Long-bract Sedge), Chondrilla juncea (Hogbite), and Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honey- suckle). The most serious invasive species on FI and the only one that appears to be a current threat to the island’s rare species is Phragmites australis var. australis. Major stands of Common Reed were aerial sprayed with an herbicide in September 2005 and 2006 (J. Scalf, The Nature Conservancy, pers. comm. ).

DISCUSSION Two floras of Fisherman Island have been

previously published (Boulé, 1979; Stalter & Lamont, 2000). Boulé (1979) reported 139 taxa for the island,

NO. 29, 2007

including Dichromena colorata (L.) A.S. Hitchc. (White- topped Sedge). Dichromena colorata is a synonym for Rhynchospora colorata (L.) H. Pfeiffer, a rare species in Virginia (Townsend, 2005). Boulé (1979) reported that his specimens were deposited in the herbarium at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), which is part of The College of William and Mary. Conversations with Holly J. Grubbs, curator of The College of William and Mary herbarium, as well as with individuals on the VIMS staff, failed to locate Boulé’s specimens. Stalter & Lamont (2000) also searched for R. colorata on the island without success. Thus, the presence of this species on FI could not be confirmed.

Stalter & Lamont (2000) reported 238 taxa for the island, including Paspalum distichum L. (Joint Paspalum), a rare species in Virginia (Townsend, 2005). They reported that this grass is rare on the island at the upland border of a brackish marsh and stated that a complete set of voucher specimens was deposited with the USFWS at Cape Charles, Virginia. We located voucher specimens for many, but not all, of the species reported in their paper. Among these was a collection labeled Paspalum vaginatum Sw. (Seashore Crown Grass). This species is closely related to P. distichum and, in the past, the latter name has been applied to the taxon now generally referred to as P. vaginatum (Gleason & Cronquist, 1991). This Specimen appears to be the basis for the listing of P. distichum by Stalter & Lamont (2000), for they make no reference to P. vaginatum. After examination, the specimen does appear to be P. vaginatum, a species whose status in Virginia is unclear (J. F. Townsend, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, pers. comm.). No specimen of true P. distichum L. was encountered in the collection.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was made possible through funding provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Susan M. Rice, Refuge Manager, Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge (ESVNWR), administered this funding for USFWS and provided logistical support for the project. Other members of the ESVNWR staff who assisted us with fieldwork logistics are Pamela P. Denmon, Robert J. Leffel, and Irene G. Morris. Assistance with the identification of plant specimens collected in conjunction with this project was provided by DCR-DNH Botanist John F. Townsend, DCR-DNH Vegetation Ecologist Gary P. Fleming, and Thomas F. Wieboldt, Assistant Curator, Herbarium, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. We are grateful to Steven M. Roble and two anonymous reviewers for reviewing a draft copy of this paper.

BELDEN & FIELD: FLORA OF FISHERMAN ISLAND 7

LITERATURE CITED

Belden, A., Jr. 2000. 2000 inventory for Amaranthus pumilus Raf. in Virginia. Natural Heritage Technical Report 00-17. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. 7 pp. plus appendix.

Boulé, M. E. 1979. The vegetation of Fisherman Island, Virginia. Castanea 44: 98-108.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission. 2006. Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. http://www.cbbt.com/ index.html. (Accessed 19 April 2006).

Fleming, G. P., P. P. Coulling, K. D. Patterson, & K. Taverna. 2006. The natural communities of Virginia: classification of ecological community groups. Second approximation. Version 2.2. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/ dnh/ncintro.htm. (Accessed 18 April 2006).

Gleason, H. A., & A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY. 910 pp.

Harvill, A. M., Jr., T. R. Bradley, C. E. Stevens, T. F.Wieboldt, D. M. E. Ware, D. W. Ogle, G. W. Ramsey, & G. P. Fleming. 1992. Atlas of the Virginia Flora. Third Edition. Virginia Botanical Associates, Burkeville, VA. 144 pp.

Heffernan, K. E. 1998. Managing invasive alien plants in natural areas, parks, and small woodlands. Natural Heritage Technical Report 98-25. Virginia Department of

Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. 13 pp.

Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist and atlas with biological attributes for the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. /n J. T. Kartesz & C.A. Meacham. Synthesis of the North American flora, version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill.

McAvoy W. A., & K. B. Bennett. 2001. The Flora of Delaware, an Annotated Checklist. Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Dover, DE. 264 pp.

Stalter, R., & E. E. Lamont. 2000. Vascular flora of Fisherman Island, Virginia. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 127: 324-332.

Townsend, J. F. 2005. Natural heritage resources of Virginia: rare plants. Natural Heritage Technical Report 05-08. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. 54 pp. plus appendices.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2005. Eastern Shore of Virginia and Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuges. http://www.fws.gov/northeast/easternshore/index. htm. (Accessed 19 April 2006).

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage. 2005. Buiotics data management system. Richmond, VA.

Weakley, A. S. 2004. Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia. Working draft of 17 March 2004. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

8 BANISTERIA NO. 29, 2007

Table 1. Flora of Fisherman Island, 2005. The list is arranged taxonomically by Division: Equisetophyta (horsetails), Polypodiophyta (ferns), Pinophyta (gymnosperms), and Magnoliophyta (flowering plants). The Magnoliophyta are further divided into Class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons) and Class Liliopsida (monocotyledons). Within each major group, families, genera, species, and subtaxa are arranged alphabetically. Scientific and common names follow Kartesz (1999) with the exception of three taxa, Eupatorium linearifolium Walter, Melilotus albus Medik., and Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roemer & J.A. Schultes ssp. pumila, which follow Weakley (2004). Synonyms are provided for some taxa where Kartesz (1999) departs sharply from other current sources. Non-native taxa, as determined from a consensus of the standard regional floras, are preceded by an asterisk (*). A few taxa whose status as native or non-native is uncertain are preceded by *?. Rare species, as determined by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (Townsend, 2006), are highlighted in bold. The third column shows taxa that were previously reported by Boulé (1979) (B) or Stalter & Lamont (2000) (S&L). Taxa not previously reported are indicated as “New.” The last column shows the first author’s collection number for specimens deposited at VPI to voucher new records from Northampton County.

DIVISION/FAMILY/ PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMON NAME REPORTS COLLECTION NO. EQUISETOPHYTA

EQUISETACEAE

Equisetum hyemale L. var. affine (Engelm.) A.A. Eat. Tall scouring-rush New 2110 POLYPODIOPHYTA

BLECHNACEAE

Woodwardia areolata (L.) T. Moore Netted chain fern New

OSMUNDACEAE

Osmunda regalis L. var. spectabilis (Willd.) Gray Royal fern B, S&L

PINOPHYTA

CUPRESSACEAE

Juniperus virginiana L. Eastern red-cedar B, S&L

PINACEAE

Pinus taeda L. Loblolly pine B, S&L

MAGNOLIOPHYTA: MAGNOLIOPSIDA

AIZOACEAE

Sesuvium maritimum (Walt.) B.S.P. Slender sea-purslane B, S&L AMARANTHACEAE

Froelichia gracilis (Hook.) Moq. Slender snake-cotton S&L ANACARDIACEAE

Rhus copallinum L. Winged sumac B, S&L 2123 Toxicodendron radicans (L.) Kuntze Eastern poison-ivy B, S&L 2102 APIACEAE

*Daucus carota L. Queen Anne’s lace B, S&L

*Foeniculum vulgare P. Mill. Sweet fennel S&L

Hydrocotyle bonariensis Comm. ex Lam. Coastal marsh-penny wort New 2108 Hydrocotyle sp. (only sterile material was found; A marsh-pennywort S&L

reported by S&L as Hydrocotyle verticillata Thunb.) Ptilimnium capillaceum (Michx.) Raf. Herbwilliam B

BELDEN & FIELD: FLORA OF FISHERMAN ISLAND

DIVISION/FAMILY/ SCIENTIFIC NAME

AQUIFOLIACEAE Ilex opaca Ait. Ilex vomitoria Ait.

ARALIACEAE *Hedera helix L.

ASTERACEAE

*Achillea millefolium L.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.

*Artemisia stelleriana Bess.

*Artemisia vulgaris L.

Baccharis halimifolia L.

Bidens bipinnata L.

Bidens connata Muhl. ex Willd.

Borrichia frutescens (L.) DC.

*Chondrilla juncea L.

*Cichorium intybus L.

Cirsium horridulum Michx.

*Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten.

*Conyza bonariensis (L.) Cronq.

Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq. var. canadensis = Erigeron canadensis L. var. canadensis

Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq. var. pusilla

= Erigeron canadensis L. var. pusillus (Nutt.) Boivin

Erechtites hieraciifolia (L.) Raf. ex DC. Eupatorium capillifolium (Lam.) Small Eupatorium hyssopifolium L. Eupatorium sp. (species has characteristics of

E. linearifolium Walter, but is not a perfect fit) Eupatorium serotinum Michx. Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera

= Gnaphalium purpureum L.

*Helenium amarum (Raf.) H. Rock Heterotheca subaxillaris (Lam.) Britt. & Rusby *Hypochaeris radicata L. Iva frutescens L. Krigia virginica (L.) Willd. Lactuca canadensis L. Mikania scandens (L.) Willd. Pityopsis graminifolia (Michx.) Nutt. var.

latifolia (Fern.) Semple & Bowers

= Chrysopsis graminifolia (Michx.) Ell. var. latifolia Fern.

Pluchea odorata (L.) Cass var. odorata

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium (L.) Hilliard & Burtt

= Gnaphalium obtusifolium L. Pyrrhopappus carolinianus (Walt.) DC. * Senecio vulgaris L.

Solidago canadensis L. Solidago sempervirens L. * Sonchus asper (L.) Hill

COMMON NAME

American holly Yaupon

English-ivy

Common yarrow Annual ragweed Dusty miller Common wormwood Groundseltree Spanish-needles Purple-stem beggarticks Bushy seaside-tansy Hogbite

Chicory

Yellow thistle

Bull thistle Asthmaweed Canadian horseweed

Canadian horseweed

American burnweed Dog-fennel Hyssop-leaf thoroughwort

Late-flowering thoroughwort Spoon-leaf purple everlasting

Yellowdicks Camphorweed

Hairy cat’s-ear

Jesuit’s bark

Virginia dwarf-dandelion Florida blue lettuce Climbing hempvine Narrow-leaf silk-grass

Sweetscent Blunt-leaf rabbit-tobacco

Carolina desert-chicory Old-man-in-the-spring Tall goldenrod

Seaside goldenrod Spiny-leaf sow-thistle

9

PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD REPORTS COLLECTION NO.

B, S&L S&L

New

2111

10 BANISTERIA NO. 29, 2007

DIVISION/FAMILY/ PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMON NAME REPORTS COLLECTION NO. ASTERACEAE (continued)

Symphyotrichum pilosum (Willd.) Nesom White oldfield American-aster S&L var. pringlei (Gray) Nesom

= Aster pilosus Willd. var. pringlei (Gray) Blake

Symphyotrichum subulatum (Michx.) Nesom Seaside American-aster S&L = Aster subulatus Michx. Symphyotrichum tenuifolium (L.) Nesom Perennial saltmarsh American- B, S&L

= Aster tenuifolius L. aster

*Taraxacum officinale G.H. Weber ex Wiggers Common dandelion S&L

BIGNONIACEAE

Campsis radicans (L.) Seem. ex Bureau Trumpet-creeper B, S&L

BORAGINACEAE

Heliotropium curassavicum L. var. curassavicum Seaside heliotrope New Photographed

BRASSICACEAE

* Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Thalecress B, S&L

Cakile edentula (Bigelow) Hook. American searocket B, S&L

*Cardamine hirsuta L. Hairy bittercress S&L

Lepidium virginicum L. Poorman’ s-pepperwort B, S&L

CACTACEAE

Opuntia humifusa (Raf.) Raf. Devil’s-tongue B, S&L

CAPRIFOLIACEAE

*Lonicera Japonica Thunb. Japanese honeysuckle B, S&L

CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Sagina decumbens (Ell.) Torr. & Gray Trailing pearlwort New

*Scleranthus annuus L. Annual knawel S&L

Spergularia salina J.& K. Pres Saltmarsh sandspurry New

* Stellaria media (L.) Vill. Common chickweed S&L

CHENOPODIACEAE

Atriplex cristata Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd. Crested saltbush B, S&L = Atriplex arenaria Nutt.

Atriplex prostrata Bouchér ex DC. Hastate orache B, S&L = Atriplex patula L.

*? Chenopodium album L. Lamb’ s-quarters B, S&L

*Chenopodium ambrosioides L. Mexican-tea B, S&L

Salicornia bigelovii Torr. Dwarf saltwort B, S&L

Salicornia virginica L. Woody saltwort B, S&L

*? Salsola kali L. ssp. kali Russian-thistle B, S&L = Salsola caroliniana Walt.

Sarcocornia perennis (P. Mill.) A.J. Scott Chickenclaws B, S&L = Salicornia perennis P. Mill.

Suaeda linearis (Ell.) Mogq. Annual seepweed B, S&L

*? Suaeda maritima (L.) Dumort. Herbaceous seepweed New

CISTACEAE

Hudsonia tomentosa Nutt. Sand golden-heather B, S&L

Lechea maritima Leggett ex B.S.P. var. Beach pinweed S&L

virginica Hodgdon

BELDEN & FIELD: FLORA OF FISHERMAN ISLAND

DIVISION/FAMILY/ SCIENTIFIC NAME

CLUSIACEAE Hypericum hypericoides (L.) Crantz

CONVOLVULACEAE Calystegia sepium (L.) R. Br. Dichondra carolinensis Michx. *? Ipomoea hederacea Jacq. Ipomoea lacunosa L. *]pomoea purpurea (L.) Roth

CORNACEAE Nyssa biflora Walt.

CURCURBITACEAE Melothria pendula L.

EBENACEAE Diospyros virginiana L.

ELAEAGNACEAE *Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. var. parvifolia (Royle) Schneid.

EUPHORBIACEAE Chamaesyce bombensis (Jacq.) Dugand = Euphorbia ammannioides Kunth Chamaesyce maculata (L.) = Euphorbia maculata L. Chamaesyce polygonifolia (L.) = Euphorbia polygonifolia L.

Croton glandulosus L. var. septentrionalis Muell.-Arg.

FABACEAE *Kummerowia striata (Thunb.) Schindl.

= Lespedeza striata (Thunb.) Hook. & Arn. *Lespedeza cuneata (Dum.-Cours.) G. Don * Melilotus albus Medik.

[under Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam. in Kartesz]

Robinia pseudoacacia L. Strophostyles helvula (L.) El. Strophostyles umbellata (Muhl. ex Willd.) Britt. *Trifolium arvense L. *Trifolium campestre Schreb. *Trifolium dubium Sibthorp *Trifolium repens L. *Vicia hirsuta (L.) S.F. Gray *Vicia sativa L. ssp. nigra (L.) Ehrh *Vicia villosa Roth

GENTIANACEAE Sabatia stellaris Pursh

COMMON NAME

St. Andrew’ s-cross

Hedge false bindweed Carolina pony’ s-foot Ivy-leaf morning-glory Whitestar

Common morning-glory

Swamp tupelo

Guadeloupe-cucumber

Common persimmon

Autumn-olive

Southern beach spurge Small spotted sandmat Small seaside sandmat

Vente-conmigo

Japanese-clover

Chinese bush-clover White sweet-clover

Black locust Trailing fuzzy-bean Pink fuzzy-bean Rabbit-foot clover Lesser hop clover Suckling clover White clover

Tiny vetch

Garden vetch Winter vetch

Rose-of-Plymouth

New

New

S&L

New S&L B, S&L

New

S&L

S&L B, S&L

B, S&L B, S&L B, S&L New New New New New S&L New

B, S&L

11

PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD REPORTS COLLECTION NO.

12

DIVISION/FAMILY/ SCIENTIFIC NAME

GERANIACEAE Geranium carolinianum L.

LAMIACEAE Monarda punctata L. Teucrium canadense L.

LAURACEAE Persea palustris (Raf.) Sarg. Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees

LINACEAE Linum medium (Planch.) Britt. var. texanum (Planch.) Fern.

MALVACEAE Hibiscus moscheutos L.

MOLLUGINACEAE * Mollugo verticillata L.

MYRICACEAE

Morella cerifera (L.) Small = Myrica cerifera L.

Morella pensylvanica (Mirbel) Kartesz = Myrica pensylvanica Mirbel

ONAGRACEAE Ludwigia palustris (L.) Ell. Oenothera humifusa Nutt. Oenothera laciniata Hill

OXALIDACEAE Oxalis corniculata L.

PASSIFLORACEAE Passiflora incarnata L.

PHYTOLACCACEAE Phytolacca americana L.

PLANTAGINACEAE

* Plantago aristata Michx. *Plantago lanceolata L. Plantago virginica L.

PLUMBAGINACEAE Limonium carolinianum (Walt.) Britt.

POLYGONACEAE

Polygonella articulata (L.) Meisn.

*Polygonum caespitosum Blume var. longisetum (de Bruyn) A.N. Steward

Polygonum glaucum Nutt.

BANISTERIA

COMMON NAME

Carolina cranes’ s-bill

Spotted beebalm American germander

Swamp bay Sassafras

Stiff yellow flax

Crimson-eyed rose-mallow

Green carpetweed

Southern bayberry

Northern bayberry

Marsh primrose-willow Seaside evening-primrose Cut-leaf evening-primrose

Creeping yellow wood-sorrel

Purple passion-flower

American pokeweed

Large-bract plantain English plantain Pale-seed plantain

Carolina sea-lavender Coastal jointweed

Oriental lady’ s-thumb

Sea-beach knotweed

NO. 29, 2007 PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD REPORTS COLLECTION NO.

B, S&L

B, S&L B, S&L

S&L B, S&L

New

B, S&L

S&L

B, S&L

B, S&L

S&L S&L B, S&L

New

New

B, S&L

B, S&L B, S&L B, S&L

B, S&L

B, S&L

New

New

BELDEN & FIELD: FLORA OF FISHERMAN ISLAND 13

DIVISION/FAMILY/ PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMON NAME REPORTS COLLECTION NO.

POLYGONACEAE (continued)

Polygonum punctatum El. Dotted smartweed B, S&L

Polygonum setaceum Baldw. Bog smartweed New

*Rumex acetosella L. Common sheep sorrel B, S&L

*Rumex crispus L. Curly dock S&L

RANUNCULACEAE

*Ranunculus bulbosus L. St. Anthony’ s-turnip New

RHAMNACEAE

Berchemia scandens (Hill) K. Koch Alabama supplejack S&L

ROSACEAE

Prunus serotina Ehrh. Black cherry B, S&L

*Rosa multiflora Thunb. ex Murr. Multiflora rose New

Rubus argutus Link Saw-tooth blackberry S&L

Rubus cuneifolius Pursh Sand blackberry New

Rubus flagellaris Willd. Whiplash dewberry S&L

RUBIACEAE

Diodia teres Walt. Poorjoe B, S&L

Diodia virginiana L. Virginia buttonweed S&L

Galium aparine L. Sticky-Willy New

Galium hispidulum Michx. Coastal bedstraw S&L

Galium tinctorium (L.) Scop. Stiff marsh bedstraw New

Mitchella repens L. Partridge-berry S&L

RUTACEAE

Zanthoxylum clava-herculis L. Hercules’-club B, S&L

SALICACEAE

Populus deltoides Bartr. ex Marsh. Eastern cottonwood B, S&L

Salix caroliniana Michx. Carolina willow S&L

SCROPHULARIACEAE

Agalinis purpurea (L.) Pennell Purple false foxglove New

Nuttallanthus canadensis (L.) D.A. Sutton Oldfield-toadflax B, S&L = Linaria canadensis (L.) Chaz.

*Veronica arvensis L. Corn speedwell S&L

SIMARUBACEAE

* Ailanthus altissima (P. Mill.) Swingle Tree-of-heaven S&L

SOLANACEAE

* Datura stramonium L. Jimsonweed S&L

Physalis walteri Nutt. Dune ground-cherry New

= Physalis viscosa L. vat. maritima (M.A. Curtis) Rydb. Solanum carolinense L. Carolina horse-nettle B, S&L Solanum ptychanthum Dunal Eastern black nightshade B, S&L = Solanum americanum auct. Non P. Mill. = Solanum nigrum auct. Non L.

14

DIVISION/FAMILY/ SCIENTIFIC NAME

TYPHACEAE Typha angustifolia L.

ULMACEAE Celtis occidentalis L.

URTICACEAE

Boehmeria cylindrica (L.) Sw.

VALERIANACEAE

*Valerianella locusta (L.) Lat.

VERBENACEAE Callicarpa americana L.

VITACEAE

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch.

MAGNOLIOPHYTA: LILIOPSIDA

AGA VACEAE Yucca filamentosa L.

COMMELINACEAE *Commelina communis L.

CYPERACEAE

Carex albicans Willd. ex Spreng. var. albicans *Carex extensa Goodenough *Carex gravida Bailey var. lunelliana

(Mackenzie) F.J. Herm.

Carex hirsutella Mackenzie = Carex complanata Torr. & Hook. var. hirsuta (Willd.) Gleason

*Carex kobomugi Ohwi Carex longii Mackenzie Cyperus esculentus L. Cyperus filicinus Vahl Cyperus grayi Torr. Cyperus odoratus L.

Cyperus retrorsus Chapman Eleocharis obtusa (Willd.) J.A. Schultes = Eleocharis ovata (Roth) Roemer & J. A. Schultes var. obtusa (Willd.) Ktkenth. Fimbristylis caroliniana (Lam.) Fern. Fimbristylis castanea (Michx.) Vahl Schoenoplectus americanus (Pers.) Volk.

ex Schinz & R. Keller = Scirpus olneyi Gray

Schoenoplectus pungens (Vahl) Palla = Scirpus americanus auct. Non Pers. Scirpus cyperinus (L.) Kunth

BANISTERIA

COMMON NAME

Narrow-leaf cat-tail

Common hackberry

Small-spike false nettle

Lamb’ s-lettuce

American beauty-berry

Virginia-creeper

Adam’ s-needle

Asiatic dayflower

White-tinge sedge Long-bract sedge Heavy sedge

Fuzzy-wuzzy sedge

Asiatic sand sedge Long’s sedge

Chufa

Fern flat sedge

Eastern Gray’s flat sedge Rusty flat sedge Pine-barren flat sedge Blunt spike-rush

Carolina fimbry Marsh fimbry Chairmaker’s club-rush

Three-Square

Cottongrass bulrush

NO. 29, 2007

PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD REPORTS COLLECTION NO.

New

B, S&L

New

New

S&L

B, S&L

B, S&L

New

New New New

New

B, S&L S&L S&L B, S&L B, S&L S&L B, S&L S&L

S&L B?, S&L New

B, S&L

S&L

2101 2113 2103

2106

BELDEN & FIELD: FLORA OF FISHERMAN ISLAND

DIVISION/FAMILY/ SCIENTIFIC NAME

JUNCACEAE Juncus biflorus Ell. = Juncus marginatus Rostk. var. biflorus Wood Juncus coriaceus Mackenzie Juncus dichotomus El. Juncus effusus L. Juncus gerardii Loisel. Juncus roemerianus Scheele

LILIACEAE *Allium vineale L. *Asparagus officinalis L.

POACEAE * Aira caryophyllea L. Ammophila breviligulata Fern. Andropogon glomeratus (Walt.) B.S.P. Andropogon virginicus L. *Anthoxanthum odoratum L. Aristida tuberculosa Nutt. Axonopus furcatus (Flueggé) A.S. Hitche. *Bromus hordeaceus L. * Bromus racemosus L. *Bromus tectorum L. Cenchrus tribuloides L. Chasmanthium laxum (L.) Yates *Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers *Dactylis glomerata L. Dichanthelium meridionale (Ashe) Freckmann = Panicum acuminatum Sw. var. unciphyllum (Trin.) Lelong Dichathelium ovale (Ell.) Gould & C.A. Clark var. addisonii (Nash) Gould & C.A. Clark = Panicum addisonii Nash Dichanthelium scoparium (Lam.) Gould = Panicum scoparium Lam. Dichanthelium sphaerocarpon (FEll.) Gould var. sphaerocarpon = Panicum sphaerocarpon El. Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koel. = Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. var. ciliaris (Retz.) Parl. *Digitaria ischaemum (Schreb.) Schreb. ex Muhl. Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene * Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv. Echinochloa walteri (Pursh) Heller * Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.

Elymus virginicus L. var. halophilus (Bickn.) Wieg.

* Eragrostis curvula (Schrad.) Nees Eragrostis hirsuta (Michx.) Nees Eragrostis spectabilis (Pursh) Steud. Festuca rubra L.

COMMON NAME

Bog rush

Leathery rush Forked rush Lamp rush Saltmarsh rush Roemer’s rush

Crow garlic Asparagus

Common silver-hair grass American beach grass Bushy bluestem Broom-sedge

Large sweet vernal grass Seaside three-awn

Big carpet grass

Soft brome

Bald brome

Cheat grass

Sand-dune sandburr Slender wood-oats Bermuda grass

Orchard grass

Matting rosette grass

Egg-leaf rosette grass

Broom rosette grass

Round-seed rosette grass

Southern crab grass

Smooth crab grass

Coastal salt grass

Large barnyard grass Long-awn cock’s-spur grass Indian goose grass

Virginia wild rye

Weeping love grass

Big-top love grass Petticoat-climber

Red fescue

15

PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD REPORTS COLLECTION NO.

New

B, S&L

New

S&L

S&L B, S&L S&L New S&L B, S&L S&L New B, S&L New

2112

2104

16

DIVISION/FAMILY/ SCIENTIFIC NAME

POACEAE (continued)

Leptochloa fusca (L.) Kunth ssp. Jascicularis (Lam.) N. Snow = Leptochloa fascicularis (Lam.) Gray var. maritima (Bickn.) Gleason

*Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire

= Festuca arundinacea Schreb.

= Festuca elatior L. ssp. arundinacea (Schreb.) Hack. *Lolium perenne L. ssp. multiflorum (Lam.) Husnot

= Lolium multiflorum Lam. *Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) A. Muhlenbergia capillaris (Lam.) Trin. Panicum amarum Ell. var. amarulum

(A.S. Hitchc. & Chase) P.G. Palmer Panicum amarum Ell. var. amarum Panicum dichotomiflorum Michx.

Panicum virgatum L. *Paspalum dilatatum Potr. Paspalum floridanum Michx. Paspalum laeve Michx. Paspalum setaceum Michx.

* Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. var. australis

*Poa annua L. * Poa pratensis L.

Schizachyrium littorale (Nash) Bickn. = Andropogon scoparius Michx. var. littoralis (Nash) A.S. Hitche.

Setaria magna Griseb.

Setaria parviflora (Poir.) Kerguélen = Setaria geniculata auct. non (Wild.) Beauv. *Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roemer & J.A.

Schultes ssp. pumila

= Setaria glauca (L.) Beauv. [under Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. in Kartesz] Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash * Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.

Spartina alterniflora Loisel. Spartina patens (Ait.) Muhl.

* Sporobolus indicus (L.) R. Br. Tridens flavus (L.) A.S. Hitche. Triplasis purpurea (Walt.) Chapman

Uniola paniculata L. Vulpia elliotea (Raf.) Fern. = Festuca sciurea Nutt.

*Vulpia myuros (L.) K.C. Gmel.

= Festuca myuros L.

SMILACACEAE Smilax bona-nox L. Smilax glauca Walt. Smilax pseudochina L. Smilax rotundifolia L.

BANISTERIA

COMMON NAME

Bearded sprangletop

Tall rye grass

Perennial rye grass

Japanese stilt grass Hair-awn muhly Bitter panic grass

Bitter panic grass Fall panic grass Wand panic grass Golden crown grass Florida crown grass Field crown grass Slender crown grass Common reed Annual blue grass Kentucky blue grass Dune false bluestem

Giant bristle grass Marsh bristle grass

Pearl-millet

Yellow Indian grass Johnson grass

Saltwater cord grass Salt-meadow cord grass Smut grass

Tall redtop

Purple sand grass

Sea-oats

Squirrel-tail six-weeks grass

Rat-tail six-weeks grass

Fringed greenbrier Sawbrier Bamboovine Horsebrier

NO. 29, 2007

PREVIOUS COUNTY RECORD REPORTS COLLECTION NO.

S&L

S&L

S&L

2109

2105

Banisteria, Number 29, pages 17-31 © 2007 Virginia Natural History Society

A Survey of Macrolepidopteran Moths of Turkey Run and Great Falls National Parks, Fairfax County, Virginia

Brent W. Steury

700 George Washington Memorial Parkway Turkey Run Park Headquarters McLean, Virginia 22101

John Glaser

116 Hickory Hollow Road Berkeley Springs, West Virginia 25411

Christopher S. Hobson

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Division of Natural Heritage 217 Governor Street Richmond, Virginia 23219

ABSTRACT

National park sites at Turkey Run Park and Great Falls Park, Fairfax County, Virginia, were surveyed intermittently from April 1999 through March 2007 for macrolepidopteran moths. A total of 480 taxa from 281 genera in 13 families was documented, including the first known record of Abrostola urentis Guenée (Noctuidae) from Virginia. Eleven of the taxa recorded are included on the watch list of rare animals in Virginia. Relationships of uncommon moths to their host plants are discussed. Extensions to the known physiographic ranges and periods

of adult flight activity are noted for some species.

Key words: Abrostola urentis, biodiversity, Lepidoptera, moths, national parks, Potomac River Gorge, Virginia.

INTRODUCTION

Although the Lepidoptera have long been esteemed among collectors of insects (Morrison, 1875; Packard, 1895; Holland, 1903), few systematic studies of the moths of Virginia have been published (Skinner, 1921; Stein, 1993; Ludwig, 2000, 2001, 2002: Butler et al., 2001). Thus, there has been little dissemination of information on the distribution of macro-moth species within the Commonwealth. This study sought to add to the distributional knowledge of the macro-moth fauna by compiling individual records documented with a voucher specimen from two national park sites in northern Virginia, ascertain the species richness of macro-moths found along the Potomac River Gorge, an area long heralded for its biodiversity and regionally

rare species (Ward, 1881; Cohn, 2004), and determine whether any federally or state-listed rare, threatened or endangered macro-moths occur within the study sites.

STUDY SITES

The study sites are located within the Virginia portions of Great Falls Park and in Turkey Run Park, Fairfax County, Virginia (Fig. 1). Both parks lie on the western rim of the Potomac River Gorge within the Piedmont physiographic province of the Central Appalachian region. Great Falls Park encompasses nearly 323 ha while the area studied in Turkey Run Park is approximately 100 ha. Turkey Run Park is 15 km northwest of the center of Washington, D.C. and Great Falls Park is 5 km farther upriver. The parks are

18 BANISTERIA NO. 29, 2007

Turkey Run Park - Virginia

ay TEE AA

Benjamin, Ave

2) sunny Hill Ct

. 0 250 500 750 1,000 a ees |Vieters

Great Falls Park - Virginia

——— —— Figure 1. Study Sites ee SS) George Washington Memorial Parkway Fairfax County Virginia |} National Park Service Administered Lands =a District of Columbia Boundary

Rivers and Streams

_ Great Contours ““ Roads \\ Falls \

rth ey, Mack Abulevary

Fe 1 ow Di st i of

Fig. 1. Location and topographic features of Turkey Run and Great Falls national parks.

STEURY ET AL.: MACROLEPIDOPTERAN MOTHS 19

managed by the National Park Service as units of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

Both parks are characterized by two-hundred foot palisades of metamorphic rock cut by steep streams draining into the Potomac River. The park’s vegetation includes a complex of upland and floodplain forest communities, riverside bedrock terrace prairies, and frequently flooded river shores. Although disturbed, secondary forests are common in formerly cleared areas of the parks; much of the contemporary forest consists of maturing second-growth stands greater than 100 years old, with several Quercus alba L. (White Oak) more than 200 years old documented along the northern ridge of Great Falls Park (Abrams & Copenheaver, 1999). These deciduous and mixed _ deciduous/ coniferous stands support a thick shrub layer and lush herbaceous flora. The diversity and abundance of spring ephemeral wildflowers on the Turkey Run Park floodplain rival those found anywhere in Virginia. The largest wetland area found in the parks is a 6 ha swamp, the remnant of an ancient Potomac River oxbow, which lies near the center of Great Falls Park. The combined vascular flora of these two parks contains more than 925 extant species (George Washington Memorial Parkway Biological Database, 2007).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Turkey Run Park inventories were conducted from April 1999 to October 2000 and cotemporally with Great Falls Park inventories from January 2004 through March 2007. Methods that we used to capture moths during this study included standard blacklight traps, ultraviolet light shown on a hung white sheet, fermented fruit and sugar baits painted on trees, collecting around incandescent lights on the outside of buildings, and general daylight searches for diurnal species. Blacklight traps consisted of a five-gallon plastic bucket fitted with a funnel, four-fold vane side extensions and a ceiling with a 15 watt blacklight in the center. Moths exiting the funnel are captured in the bottom of the bucket where they are killed by ethyl acetate or tetrachorethane. Power is provided by a 12 volt sealed lead-acid battery. We sampled various locations and habitats within the parks and retained voucher specimens for each taxon found. A total of 29 taxa were documented only with photographic vouchers, two taxa were recorded solely on the basis of sight observations, and the remainder were vouchered as pinned specimens. The sight records are of Amphion floridensis (all author citations are provided in the list of species) on 3 June 2004, and Hemaris thysbe on 31 July 2006, both in Great Falls Park. Voucher specimens are deposited in the collection at the George

Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP), Turkey Run Park Headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Photographic vouchers are labeled, saved on a compact disk, and curated with the pinned specimens.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A total of 480 macrolepidopteran moth taxa from 281 genera in 13 families was documented within Turkey Run and Great Falls Parks. The most species rich family was the Noctuidae with 269 taxa, followed by Geometridae (108), Notodontidae (26), Arctiidae (24), Sphingidae and Saturniidae (12 each), Nolidae (9), Lymantriidae (8), Lasiocampidae (6), Apatelodidae, Uraniidae, and Thyatiridae (2 each), and Mimallonidae with just a single species. The highest species richness in any genus was found in Acronicta (19 species), followed by Catocala (12 species), Zale (10 species), Macaria and Hypena (9 species each), and Idia (8 species). The total macro-moth fauna recorded from Great Falls Park was 425 taxa. A total of 222 taxa was documented in Turkey Run Park from 1999 and 2000 and an additional 86 taxa were added between 2004 and 2007, bringing the total known macro-moth fauna of the park to 308 taxa. Fifty-five taxa were documented only in Turkey Run Park, 172 taxa were unique to Great Falls Park, and 253 taxa are known from both parks. Ludwig (2000) reported that the known macro- moth fauna of Virginia is approximately 1,200 species. Following this baseline, Turkey Run and Great Falls Parks support at least 40 percent of the macro-moth fauna of Virginia.

Our collection of Abrostola urentis (Variegated Brindle Moth) in Turkey Run Park is the first record for Virginia based on reviews of collections held by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage (Steve Roble, pers. comm.), the United States National Museum (USNM) collection at the Smithsonian Institution (Michael Pogue, pers. comm.), and a five-year inventory of macrolepidopteran moths in Hanover County, Virginia (Ludwig, 2000, 2001, 2002). This moth was photographed in Turkey Run Park on 26 July 2004, 10 and 14 September 2004, and on 21 June 2005 (Fig. 2). A voucher was collected on 10 September 2004 and is deposited in the GWMP collection. Abrostola urentis is a widespread species known from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, west to British Columbia, and south to North Carolina in the East, to Kansas and northeastern Colorado in the Great Plains, and to Oregon in the West (Lafontaine & Poole, 1991). The nearest known locality to Virginia for this species is based on two records contributed by Doug Ferguson to the USNM collection from Sycamore Landing, Montgomery County,

20 BANISTERIA

oe we > « » ;

Lek cant ei Fig. 2. Abrostola urentis photographed in Turkey Run Park, Fairfax County, Virginia, on 26 July 2004.

Maryland, dated 30 April and 24 July (no year given). The larvae of this species are reported to feed on Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica L., Urticaceae) and possibly on other species of Urticaceae as well (Lafontaine & Poole, 1991). Urtica dioica is found in Turkey Run Park but is also known in 30 other Virginia counties (Harvill et al., 1992). Other taxa in the Urticaceae that occur in Turkey Run Park are Boehmeria_ cylindrica (L.) Swartz. (False Nettle), Laportea canadensis (L.) Wedd. (Wood-Nettle), and Pilea pumila (L.) A Gray (Clear Weed), all of which are more common statewide than U. dioica (Harvill et al., 1992). Thus, the apparent rarity of Abrostola urentis in Virginia is unlikely related to the rarity of its host plant.

Although no federally endangered or threatened species were documented, eleven of the macro-moth species that we found in Turkey Run or Great Falls Parks are included on the Virginia invertebrate watch list due to their possible vulnerability to extirpation statewide (Roble, 2006). Six of these eleven species were found only in Great Falls Park, one was found only in Turkey Run Park, and four were recorded in both parks. The six species found in Great Falls Park and their state natural heritage ranks are Acronicta spinigera (Nondescript Dagger Moth) S1S3, Anticlea multiferata (Many-lined Carpet) S1S3, Balsa tristrigella (Three-lined Balsa Moth) S1S3, Bellura brehmei (Narrow-leaved Cattail Borer Moth) S1S3, Eutelia pulcherrima (Beautiful Eutelia) S1S4, and

NO. 29, 2007

Euxoa violaris (Violet Dart) S1S3. Orthosia revicta (Subdued Quaker Moth) S1S4 was found only in Turkey Run Park. Acronicta radcliffei (Radcliffe’s Dagger Moth) S2S4, Anticlea vasiliata (Variable Carpet) S1S3, Metarranthis indeclinata (Pale Metarranthis) S2S4, and Oligia crytora (Mantled Brocade) S1S3, were recorded in both parks.

The host plants of Euxoa violaris and Oligia crytora are not known (Covell, 1984; Lafontaine, 1987). The other nine Virginia watch list macro-moths recorded during this inventory all use larval host plants that are common statewide (Harvill et al., 1992). These include woody deciduous trees, shrubs or vines in the genera Quercus (oaks), Prunus (cherry), Ulmus (elms), Toxicodendron (Poison Ivy and Poison Sumac), Diospyros (persimmon), Crataegus (hawthorn), Tilia (basswood), and Rubus (blackberries), and _ the herbaceous plants, 7ypha angustifolia L. (Narrow- leaved Cat-tail) and Epilobium spp. (willow-herb) (Covell, 1984; Wagner et al., 1997, 2001; Robinson et al., 2002; Wagner, 2005). Thus, the apparent rarity of these moths in Virginia is not due to a paucity of their larval host plants.

In spite of the statewide abundance of Typha angustifolia and Epilobium spp., the only documented host plants of Be/lura brehmei and Anticlea multiferata, respectively, neither of these two plants has ever been documented from Great Falls or Turkey Run Parks, despite recent vascular plant surveys in these parks documenting over 925 taxa. Thus, these two moth species must have immigrated some distance to the park where they were captured or they are using alternate, unknown host plants. The taxon most closely allied to T. angustifolia that is found in Great Falls Park is Typha latifolia L. (Broad-leaved Cat-tail), but it is very rare there. The Onagraceae (evening-primrose family), to which Epilobium belongs, contains four other genera that are common in Great Falls Park, including species of Circaea (enchanter’s nightshade), Gaura (biennial gaura), Ludwigia (water-primrose), and Oecenothera (evening-primrose) that may be serving as additional host plants of Anticlea multiferata in the area around Great Falls Park.

Our records of Euxoa violaris and Diachrysia aeroides (specimens confirmed by Michael Pogue) from the Piedmont of Virginia represent physiographic range extensions for these two species within the Commonwealth. Previously, Euxoa violaris was known only from the Coastal Plain and Diachrysia aeroides only from the mountains. Euxoa violaris inhabits areas of loose, shifting sand such as beach and dune areas along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Massachusetts to North Carolina (Lafontaine, 1987). Based on reviews of collections at USNM and the Virginia Department of

STEURY ET AL.: MACROLEPIDOPTERAN MOTHS 21

Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, there are only two previously known Virginia records of Diachrysia aeroides, both from high elevation sites in western Virginia (Steve Roble, pers. comm. ).

Our inventory extended the known periods of adult activity for four species. Adult activity in Costaconvexa centrostrigaria has been documented as occurring from March through October (Covell, 1984), but we recorded it on 9 December 2004 during this inventory. The flight period for Galgula partita is reported as March through October (Covell, 1984). We documented this species in Turkey Run Park on 13 December 2006. Adult activity in Cerastis tenebrifera has been noted in most areas from late March until early May and as early as February in the South (Lafontaine, 1998). It was found in Turkey Run Park on 16 January 2007, as was Iridopsis defectaria, for which Covell (1984) gives the known flight period as February through November.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

National Park Service staff including Melissa Kangas, Ann Brazinski, and Dan Sealy assisted in the collection of field data from Turkey Run Park during the 1999-2000 study. Specimens collected during 1999- 2000 were identified by staff of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage including Anne Chazal, Steve Roble, Kathy Derge, and Chris Ludwig; Dale Schweitzer verified most of these identifications. John W. Brown (USNM) provided macro-moth data for species collected from Great Falls and Turkey Run parks during the June 2006 Potomac Gorge Bioblitz. George Balogh determined specimens of Macaria fissinotata and Hydriomena pluviata. Steve Roble and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on the manuscript. Special appreciation is extended to Sean Denniston, National Park Service, National Capital Region for providing the image in Fig. 1.

LITERATURE CITED

Abrams, M. L., & C. A. Copenheaver. 1999. Temporal variation in species recruitment and dendroecology of an old-growth white oak forest in the Virginia Piedmont, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 124: 275-284.

Butler, L., V. Kondo, & J. Strazanac. 2001. Light trap catches of Lepidoptera in two Central Appalachian forests. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 103: 879-902.

Cohn, J. P. 2004. The wildest urban river: Potomac River Gorge. BioScience 54: 8-14.

Covell, C. V. 1984. A Field Guide to the Moths of Eastern North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA. 496 pp.

George Washington Memorial Parkway Biological Database. 2007. Turkey Run Park Headquarters. (Accessed 22 March 2007).

Harvill, A. M., Jr, T. R. Bradley, C. E. Stevens, T. P. Wieboldt, D. M. E. Ware, D. W. Ogle, G. W. Ramsey, & G. P. Fleming. 1992. Atlas of the Virginia Flora III. Virginia Botanical Associates, Burkeville, VA. 144 pp.

Hodges, R. W., T. Dominick, D. C. Ferguson, J. G. Franclemont, E. G. Munroe, & J. A. Powell. 1983. Check List of the Lepidoptera of America North of Mexico. E.W. Classey Ltd. and The Wedge Entomological Foundation, London. 284 pp.

Holland, W. J. 1903. The Moth Book, A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Moths of North America. Doubleday, Page and Company, New York. 479 pp.

Lafontaine, J. D. 1987. Noctuoidea, Noctuidae (part). Jn R. W. Hodges, D. R. Davis, T. Dominick, D. C. Ferguson, J. G. Franclemont, E. G. Munroe, & J. A. Powell, (eds.), The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 27.2, Allen Press, Lawrence, KS. 237 pp.

Lafontaine, J. D. 1998. Noctuoidea, Noctuidae (part). Jn R. W. Hodges, D. R. Davis, T. Dominick, D. C. Ferguson, J. G. Franclemont, E. G. Munroe, & J. A. Powell, (eds.), The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 27.3, Allen Press, Lawrence, KS. 348 pp.

Lafontaine, J. D., & R. W. Poole. 1991. Noctuoidea, Noctuidae (part). In R. W. Hodges, D. R. Davis, T. Dominick, D. C. Ferguson, J. G. Franclemont, E. G. Munroe, & J. A. Powell, (eds.), The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 25.1, Allen Press, Lawrence, KS. 182 pp.

Ludwig, J. C. 2000. A survey of macrolepidopteran moths near Vontay, Hanover County, Virginia. Banisteria 15: 16-35.

Ludwig, J. C. 2001. An update to the survey of macrolepidopteran moths near Vontay, Hanover County, Virginia. Banisteria 17: 42-47.

22 BANISTERIA

Ludwig, J. C. 2002. Second update to the survey of macrolepidopteran moths near Vontay, Hanover County, Virginia. Banisteria 19: 17-19.

Morrison, H. K. 1875. Notes on the Noctuidae with descriptions of certain new species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia 27: 55- 7A,

Packard, A. S. 1895. On a new classification of the Lepidoptera. American Naturalist 29: 636-647.

Robinson, G. S., P. R. Ackery, I. J. Kitching, G. W. Beccaloni, & L. M. Hernandez. 2002. Hostplants of the Moth and Butterfly Caterpillars of America North of Mexico. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 69: 1-824.

Roble, S. M. 2006. Natural Heritage resources of Virginia: rare animal species. Natural Heritage Technical Report 06-10. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. 44 pp.

Skinner, H. 1921. Moths collected at Hot Springs,

NO. 29, 2007 Virginia (Lepid.). Entomological News 32: 65-71.

Stein, K. J. 1993. Moth records from Burkes Garden, Virginia. Banisteria 2: 14-17.

Wagner, D.L. 2005. Caterpillars of Eastern North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 512 pp.

Wagener, D. L., D. C. Ferguson, T. L. McCabe, & R. C. Reardon. 2001. Geometroid Caterpillars of North- eastern and Appalachian Forests. Technology Transfer Bulletin FHTET-2001-10, USDA _ Forest Service Service Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team. Morgantown, WV. 239 pp.

Wagner, D. L., V. Giles, R. C. Reardon, & M. L. McManus. 1997. Caterpillars of Eastern Forests. Technology Transfer Bulletin FHTET-96-34, USDA Forest Service Service Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team. Morgantown, WV. 113 pp.

Ward, L. F. 1881. Guide to the flora of Washington and vicinity. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 22: 1-264.

LIST OF SPECIES

Macro-moth taxa documented from Turkey Run and Great Falls parks are listed following the numerical sequence (except for placement of the family Nolidae) in Hodges et al. (1983). Taxa added subsequent to that checklist (or reassigned to other families or genera) are cited by the addition of a decimal to the number assigned to the most closely related known taxon. The periods of adult activity for Great Falls (GF) and Turkey Run (TR) parks are given based on dates when these taxa have been documented in the parks. Dates separated by a hyphen indicate that the taxon was documented on at least one day during each month within this continuum of months, whereas dates separated by a comma represent individual observation dates. The date of the earliest and latest observation is cited for each taxon. An “x” denotes that the taxon was found in the park indicated and a dash indicates that the species was not found in the park.

Hodges# Family/Species Thyatiridae 6237 Pseudothyatira cymatophoroides (Gn.) 6240 Euthyatira pudens (Gn.) Geometridae 6258 Alsophila pometaria (Harris)

6261 Heliomata cycladata Grt. & Rob.

6273 Macaria pustularia Gn. 6322 Mellilla xanthometata Wk. 6326 Macaria aemulataria Wk. 6331 Macaria promiscuata F gn. 6340 Macaria minorata (Pack.) 6341 Macaria bicolorata F. 6342 Macaria bisignata W\k. 6348 Macaria fissinotata (W1\k.) 6352 Macaria granitata Gn.

GF TR _ Dates Observed

15 Jun - 12 Jul 19 Apr

6 Dec -7 Feb

— 3Jun

x 3-11 Jun

19 Aug

23 Apr - 11 Jun, 30 Sep 9 May - 13 Aug 30 Aug

16 May, 13 Aug 8 May, 19 Jul 13 May

19 - 23 Apr

~*

Hodges #

6353 6362 6386 6405 6440 6443 6478 6582 6586 6588 6590 6594 6597 6598 6599 6620 6621 6640 6654 6655 6658 6659 6660 6662 6667 6711 6720 6726 6733 6739 6740 6743 6754 6763 6796 6797 6798 6815 6823 6824 6825 6826 6828 6834 6837 6838 6844 6884 6885 6892 6894 6941 6963 6964 6966

STEURY ET AL.: MACROLEPIDOPTERAN MOTHS 23

Geometridae (continued)

Macaria multilineata Pack. Digrammia continuata (W1k.) Digrammia ocellinata (Gn.) Digrammia gnophosaria (Gn.) Hypomecis gnopharia (Gn.) Glenoides texanaria (Hulst) Exilis pyrolaria Gn.

Tridopsis vellivolata Hulst. Iridopsis defectaria (Gn.) Iridopsis larvaria (Gn.) Anavitrinella pampinaria (Gn.) Cleora sublunaria (Gn.) Ectropis crepuscularia (D. & S.) Protoboarmia porcelaria (Gn.) Epimecis hortaria (F.) Melanolophia canadaria (Gn.) Melanolophia signataria (W1k.) Biston betularia L.

Hypagyrtis unipunctata (Haw. ) Hypagyrtis esther (Barnes) Phigalia titea (Cram. )

Phigalia denticulata (Hulst) Phigalia strigataria (Minot) Paleacrita vernata (Peck) Lomographa vestaliata (Gn.) Thysanopyga intractata (W1k.) Lytrosis unitaria (H.-S.) Euchlaena obtusaria (Hbn.) Euchlaena amoenaria (Gn.) Euchlaena irraria (B. & McD.) Xanthotype urticaria Swett. Xanthotype sospeta (Dru.)

Pero ancetaria (Hbn.)

Phaeoura quernaria (Sm.) Campaea perlata (Gn.)

Ennomos magnaria Gn. Ennomos subsignaria (Hbn.) Gueneria similaria (W1k.) Metarranthis angularia B.&McD. Metarranthis amyrisaria (W1k.) Metarranthis indeclinata (Wk.) Metarranthis hypochraria (H.-S.) Metarranthis homuraria Grt. & Rob. Cepphis decoloraria (Hulst) Probole alienaria (H.-S.) Probole amicaria (H.-S.) Plagodis alcoolaria (Gn.)

Besma endropiaria (Grt. & Rob.) Besma quercivoraria (Gn.) Lambdina pellucidaria (Grt. & Rob.) Lambdina fervidaria athasaria (Hbn.) Eusarca confusaria Hbn. Tetracis crocallata Gn.

Tetracis cachexiata Gn Eutrapela clemataria (Sm.)

GF TR x x x x x x X = 7 x xX _ x x xX = x x x x x x X _ x x 4 = x x x x x x x x x x x x x x — x x x = x

x x x

~ Ke KKK KK KK KK KK KK KK KK KK KK MK

~~ KKM K PK

»*

x x

Dates Observed

8 May - 3 Jun, 4 Aug 8 May, 19 Aug

3 - 23 Jun

19 Aug

13 Aug

30 Oct

4-8 Aug

29 Jul

16 Jan, 23 Apr, 10 Jun, 13 Aug 18 May - 13 Aug

13 - 19 Aug

3 May

24 May - 29 Jun

6 Apr

23 Apr - 13 Aug

19 Apr, 11 Jun, 13 Aug 3 Jun - 16 Jul

8 May, 29 Jul

23 May - 13 Aug

11 Jun, 15 Aug

13 Mar - 6 Apr

12 Dec - 7 Feb

25 Mar - 6 Apr

18 Dec - 30 Jan, 14 Mar 8 - 9 May

9 May - 23 Jun, 13 Aug 10 - 15 Jun

3 May

11 Jun, 19 Aug

3 Jun

19 Aug

3 Jun

23 Apr - 3 Jun

9 May

8 - 11 Jun, 19 Aug 4-6 Oct

2-8 Jun

9 May

3 - 10 Jun

15 Jun

26 May - 15 Jun

3-11 Jun

8 May, 4 Aug

15 Jun

8 May, 11 Jun, 19 Aug 9 May - 10 Jun, 13 Aug 29 Jul

3 Jun

8 May

19 Apr - 5 May

19 Apr

10 Jun, 19 Aug

11 Jul - 19 Aug

19 Aug

23 Apr - 11 Jul

24

Hodges #

6974 6982 7009 7033 7046 7053 7058 7071 7084 7114 7115 7123 7132 7136 7139 7146 7147 7159 7169 7196 7197 7237 7239 7290 7329 7330 7333 7388 7399 7414 7416 7430 7437 7440 7459 7474 7509.1 7530 7637 7647 7648

7650 7653

7659

7663 7665

BANISTERIA

Geometridae (continued)

Patalene olyzonaria puber (Grt. & Rob.)

Prochoerodes lineola (Dru.) Nematocampa resistaria (Haw.) Nemoria lixaria (Gn.)

Nemoria bistriaria Hbn. Dichorda iridaria (Gn.) Synchlora aerata (F.) Chlorochlamys chloroleucaria (Gn.) Hethemia pistasciaria (Gn.) Idaea demissaria (Hbn.)

Idaea eremiata (Hulst)

Idaea obfusaria (W1k.) Pleuroprucha insulsaria (Gn.) Cyclophora packardi (Prout) Cyclophora pendulinaria (Gn.) Haematopis grataria (F.) Calothysanis amaturaria (W1k.) Scopula linboundata (Haw. ) Scopula inductata (Gn.) Eulithis diversilineata (Hbn.) Eulithis gracilineata (Gn.) Hydriomena transfigurata Swett Hydriomena pluviata (Gn.) Coryphista meadii (Pack.) Anticlea vasiliata Gn.

Anticlea multiferata (Wk.) Stamnodes gibbicostata (Wlk.) Xanthorhoe ferrugata Clerck Euphyia unangulata (Haw.) Orthonama obstipata (F.) Costaconvexa centrostrigaria (Woll.) Trichodezia albovittata (Gn.) Operophtera bruceata (Hulst) Eubaphe mendica (W1k.) Eupithecia columbiata (Dyar) Eupithecia miserulata Grt. Eupithecia matheri Rindge Eupithecia swetti Grossb. Cladara limitaria (W1k.) Heterophleps triguttaria H.-S. Dyspteris abortivaria (H.-S.)

Uraniidae Callizzia amorata Pack. Calledapteryx dryopterata Gtt.

Mimallonidae Lacosoma chiridota Gtt.

Apatelodidae Apatelodes torrefacta (Sm.) Olceclostera angelica (Grt.)

GF TR x x > x x x x x x x xX _ 4 » xX = X po xX = xX = X a x x xX x x x x x = x x x xX = x x x x xX = x x om x x x xX = = x _ x x x > x >. x a x om x >. x xX as X = X - > x xX mi x x x x _ x x x x x x x _ x

NO. 29, 2007

Dates Observed

23 Jun - 6 Oct 14 Jun - 15 Aug 11 Jun—-11 Jul 1 Sep - 4 Oct

6 Apr, 25 Jun 28 Aug

3 Jun

9 May

9 May

19 Aug

3 Jun

29 Jul

13 Aug, 6 Oct 23 Apr, 23 Jun, 19 Aug 25 Jun - 16 Jul 10 Jun - 8 Sep 8 May

3 Jun, 13 Aug 3 Jun

11 Jun - 16 Jul 3 Jun, 6 Oct

19 Apr

6 - 12 Apr

15 Aug

23 Apr, 15 Jun 9 May

6 Oct

1 Aug

23 Jun, 19 Aug 14 Mar - 23 Apr, 4 Aug - 30 Sep 23 Apr - 21 Aug, 30 Nov, 9 Dec 9 May

5 Dec

11 Jun, 19 Aug 6 Apr

4 Oct

6 Apr

25 Mar - 6 Apr 6 Apr

2 Jun, 19 Aug 10 Jun - 29 Jul

23 Jun 15 Jun, 15 Aug

11 - 23 Jun

11-15 Jun 23 Jun, 14 Aug

Hodges #

7670 7674 7683 7687 7698 7701

7704 7706 7708 7715 7716 7723 7746 7757 7758 7764 7765 7767

7778 7784 7789 7793 7824 7825 7827 7853 7871 7870 7873 7885

7902 7903 7904 7906 7907 79ND 7920 7929 7930 7931 7951 7957 7974 7975 7983 7990 7994 7995

STEURY ET AL.: MACROLEPIDOPTERAN MOTHS 25

Family/Species

Lasiocampidae

Tolype velleda (Stoll)

Tolype notialis (F.)

Artace cribraria (Ljungh) Phyllodesma americana (Hart.) Malacosoma disstria Hbn. Malacosoma americanum (F.)

Saturniidae Eacles imperialis (Dr.) Citheronia regalis (F.)

Citheronia sepulchralis Grt. & Rob.

Dryocampa rubicunda (F.) Anisota stigma (F.)

Anisota senatoria (J.E. Sm.) Automeris io (F.)

Antheraea polyphemus (Cram.) Actias luna (L.)

Callosamia promethea (Dr.) Callosamia angulifera (W1k.) Hyalophora cecropia (L.)

Sphingidae

Manduca rustica (F.) Dolba hyloeus (Dr.) Ceratomia catalpae (Bdv.) Paratrea plebeja (F.) Paonias excaecatus (Sm.) Paonias myops (Sm.) Laothoe juglandis (Sm.) Hemaris thysbe (F.) Deidamia inscripta (Harris) Sphecodina abbottii Swainson Amphion floridensis Clark Darapsa myron (Cram.)

Notodontidae

Datana ministra (Drury) Datana angusii Grt. & Rob. Datana drexelii Hy. Edw. Datana contracta W\k.

Datana integerrima Grt. & Rob. Nadata gibbosa (Sm.)

Peridea angulosa (Sm.)

Nerice bidentata Wk.

Ellida caniplaga (W1k.) Gluphisia septentrionis Wk. Symmerista albifrons (Sm.) Dasylophia anguina (Sm.) Misogada unicolor (Pack.) Macrurocampa marthesia (Cram.) Heterocampa obliqua Pack. Heterocampa umbrata Wk. Heterocampa guttivitta (W1k.) Heterocampa biundata Wk.

GF TR Dates Observed

~

~~ KM

~~ KK KK

x x

~~ mm KK KM MK

~

x KKK |

~~ Km KM KK KM KM

~ KK

~ *

x x |

~

~~ | KK KKK 1 KK KK KK

~ *

29 Sep - 30 Oct

16 Jul

17 Jun, 30 Sep - 6 Oct 19 Apr

3-11 Jun

4-15 Jun

16 Jul - 8 Aug

3 Jun - 4 Aug

13 Aug

12 May - 23 Jun, 13 Aug 12 Jul

12 Jul

14-15 Jun

11 May

3 Jun

12 May

18 May - 11 Jun 9 Aug

5 Sep

9-15 Jun

15 Jun, 27 Aug - Sep 27 29 Jul

29 Jul

8 May, 29 Jul

11 May - 23 Jun 31 Jul

14 Apr

April 24 - 18 May 3 Jun

9 Jun - 25 Jul

13 - 29 Aug

3 Jun - 13 Aug

10 Jun, 13 Aug

8 Jun - 11 Jul

19 Jun - 13 Aug

8 May - 11 Jun, 13 Aug 19 Aug

22 May - 11 Jun, 13 Aug 23 Apr - 23 Jun, 13 Aug 8 May, 3 Jun, 30 Aug 18 Apr - 13 Aug

10 Jun, 16 Aug - 5 Sep 19 Aug

11 Jun

3 Jun, 13 Aug

29 Jul

19 Apr - 6 Sep

8 May, 11 Jun, 15 Aug

26

Hodges #

7998 7999 8005 8007 8011 8012 8017 8022

8067 8087 8089 8090 8098 8107 8118 8121 8129 8133 8134 8137 8140 8146 8169 8171 8171.1 8176 8177 8188 8203 8230 8238 8267

8292 8293 8296 8298 8302 8314 8316 8318

8970 8971 8972 8973 8983 8983.1 8983.2 8991 8992

BANISTERIA

Notodontidae (continued)

Lochmaeus manteo Doubleday Lochmaeus bilineata (Pack.) Schizura ipomoeae Doubleday Schizura unicornis (Sm.)

Schizura leptinoides (Grt.) Oligocentria semirufescens (W1k.) Oligocentria lignicolor (W1k.) Hyparpax aurora (J.E. Sm.)

Arctiidae

Cisthene plumbea Stretch Lycomorpha pholus Dr. Hypoprepia miniata (Kby.) Hypoprepia fucosa Hbn. Clemensia albata Pack. Haploa clymene (Brown) Holomelina opella (Gtt.) Holomelina aurantiaca (Hbn.) Pyrrharctia isabella (Sm.) Spilosoma latipennis Stretch Spilosoma congrua W\k. Spilosoma virginica (F.) Hyphantria cunea Dr. Hypercompe scribonia Stoll Apantesis phalerata (Harr.) Apantesis nais (Dru.) Apantesis carlotta Fgn. Grammia anna (Gtt.) Grammia virgo (L.) Grammia figurata (Dru.) Halysidota tessellaris (Sm.) Cycnia tenera Hbn. Euchaetes egle (Dr.) Cisseps fulvicollis (Hbn.)

Lymantriidae

Dasychira tephra Hbn.

Dasychira dorsipennata (B. & McD.) Dasychira basiflava (Pack.) Dasychira meridionalis (B. & McD.) Dasychira obliquata (Grt. & Rob.) Orgyvia definita Pack.

Orgyia leucostigma (J.E. Smith) Lymantria dispar (L.)

Nolidae

Baileya ophthalmica (Gn.) Baileya dormitans (Gn.) Baileya levitans (Sm.) Baileya australis (Grt.) Meganola minuscula (Zell.) Meganola phylla (Dyar) Meganola spodia Franc. Nola cereella (Bosc. )

Nola triquetrana (Fitch)

GF TR x x > x or x x x xX = x x x x xX = x x xX a X = = x 4 = x x X = xX = x x x x x x x x x x x x X I x x x x xX = X = 7 x > x x x x x xX = _ x 4 _ x x = x xX is x x = x _ x > x x x xX = x x x x xX = X a 4 = x x

NO. 29, 2007

Dates Observed

4-19 Aug

23 May - 29 Jul, 27 Aug 23 Jun, 21 Aug

3 May - 30 Jun

15 Jun

29 Jul - 13 Aug

8 May - 23 Jun, 13 Aug 23 Jun

8 Jun, 26 Aug 23 Jun

29 Jul

30 Jun - 13 Aug 3 Jun

11 - 29 Jul

5 Sep

19 Aug

11 May - 11 Jul 3-11 Jun

8 May - 10 Jun

8 May - 23 Jun, 4 Aug 8 May - 13 Aug 4 Jun — 15 Jul

19 Aug

15 Jun - 19 Aug 22 May - 13 Aug 15 Jul

19 Aug

29 Jul - 13 Aug

1 Jun - 13 Aug

8 May - 10 Jun, 13 Aug - 9 Sep 11 Jun - 29 Jul 30 Oct

23 Jun

16 Jul

10 Jun - 19 Aug 13 Aug

29 Jul

23 Jun, 4 Oct 12 Aug, 1 Nov 17 Jun

8 May - 11 Jun, 4 Aug 3 - 23 Jun

29 Jul

8 May, 19 Aug

9 May, 14 Jul - 1 Aug 3 May

3 May

29 Jun

23 Apr, 3 Jun

Hodges #

8322 8323 8326 8328 8329 8330 8333 8334 8338 8340 8345 8347 8349 8351 8352 8353 8355 8356 8358 8360 8364 8368 8370 8378 8380 8381 8386 8393 8397 8398 8401 8404 8420 8421 8428 8440 8441 8442 8443 8444 8445 8446 8447 8461 8465 8479 8490 8491 8499 8500 8505 8514 8522 8525

STEURY ET AL.: MACROLEPIDOPTERAN MOTHS

Family/Species

Noctuidae

Idia americalis (Gn.)

Idia aemula (Hbn.)

Idia rotundalis (W1k.)

Idia julia (B. & McD.)

Idia diminuendis (B.&McD.) Idia scobialis (Gtt.)

Idia denticulalis (Harvey)

Idia lubricalis (Gey.) Phalaenophana pyramusalis (W1k.) Zanclognatha lituralis (Hbn.) Zanclognatha laevigata (Gtt.) Zanclognatha obscuripennis (Gtt.) Zanclognatha protumnusalis (W1k.) Zanclognatha cruralis (Gn.) Zanclognatha jacchusalis (W1k.) Zanclognatha ochreipennis (Gtt.) Chytolita morbidalis (Gn.) Chytolita petrealis Gtt. Macrochilo litophora (Gtt.) Macrochilo orciferalis Wk. Phalaenostola larentoides Gtt. Tetanolita floridana (Sm.) Bleptina caradrinalis Gn.

Renia salusalis (W1k.)

Renia nemoralis B. & McD. Renia discoloralis Gn.

Renia adspergilus (Bosc.) Lascoria ambigualis Wk. Palthis angulalis (Hbn.)

Palthis asopialis (Gn.)

Redectis vitrea (Gtt.)

Rivula propinqualis Gn. Hypenodes caducus (Dyar) Hypenodes fractilinea (Sm.) Dyspyralis nigella (Stkr.) Nigetia formosalis Wk.

Hypena manalis (W1k.)

Hypena baltimoralis (Gn.) Hypena bijugalis (W1k.) Hypena palparia (WIk.)

Hypena abalienalis (W1k.) Hypena deceptalis (W1k.) Hypena madefactalis (Gn.) Hypena humuli Harris

Hypena scabra (F.)

Spargaloma sexpunctata Gtt. Pangrapta decoralis Hbn. Ledaea perditalis (Wlk.) Metalectra discalis (Grt.) Metalectra quadrisignata (WIk.) Metalectra richardsi Brower Scolecocampa liburna (Gey.) Gabara subnivosella W\k. Phyprosopus callitrichoides Grt.

GF TR Dates Observed

~ eK KK KK KK KKK KKK KK KK KK KK KM mM KK KKK KK KK KK KK OK

x x |

x Ke KKK KK KM |

~

x KKK KKK KM KM

~ x

8 May - 6 Oct 11 Jun - 13 Aug 3 Jun

3 Jun

3 Jun

15 Jun

15 Jun

23 Jun - 11 Jul, 3 Sep 22 May - 23 Jun 8 May - 3 Jun, 4 Aug 15 Jun

13 Jun, 19 Aug 27 Aug

10 Jun, 19 Aug 11 Jun, 30 Aug 22 Jun - 4 Aug, 6 Oct 3 Jun

29 Jul - 13 Aug 3 Jun, 4 Aug

3 Jun

3 Aug - 10 Sep 4 Oct

3 Jun - 13 Aug 29 Jul

22 May

11 Jul—19 Aug 3-11 Jun

3 Jun - 27 Jul

8 May, 19 Aug 8 May - 19 Aug, 6 Oct 5 Sep

19 - 28 Aug

22 May

29 Jul

3 Jun

22 Jun

3 Jun

8 May - 12 Sep 9 May, 12 Aug 22 May, 13 Aug 11 Aug - 15 Sep 8 May, 30 Jul 15 Jun - 10 Jul 27 Jul

23 Apr - 30 Sep, 7 Nov - 19 Dec 10 Jun, 19 Aug 3 Jun

29 Aug

23 Jun - 13 Aug 4 Oct

3 Jun

11 Jun - 29 Jul 11 Jun

3 Jun

De

28

Hodges #

8528 8534 8547 8555 8574 8587 8588 8591 8592 8689 8692 8694 8695 8697 8698 8704 8713 8716 8717 8719 8721 8727 8738 8739 8745 8747 8769 8771 8782 8788 8792 8795 8796 8797 8798 8801 8802 8857 8878 8881 8889 8890 8896 8898 8908 8924 8955 8957 8962 8968 9025 9030 9037 9040 9044

Noctuidae (continued)

Hypsoropha hormos (Hbn.) Plusiodonta compressipalpus Gn. Anomis commoda Butler Scoliopteryx libatrix (L.) Anticarsia gemmatalis Hbn. Panopoda rufimargo (Hbn.) Panopoda carneicosta Gn. Phoberia atomaris Hbn. Cissusa spadix (Cram.)

Zale lunata (Dr.)

Zale galbanata (Morr.)

Zale aeruginosa (Gn.)

Zale undularis (Dr.)

Zale minerea (Gn.)

Zale phaeocapna Franc.

Zale helata (Sm.)

Zale lunifera (Hbn.)

Zale unilineata (Gtt.)

Zale horrida Hbn. Euparthenos nubilis (Hbn.) Allotria elonympha (Hbn.) Parallelia bistriaris Hbn. Caenurgina crassiuscula (Haworth) Caenurgina erechtea (Cram.) Mocis texana (Morr.) Celiptera frustulum Gn. Spiloloma lunilinea Gtt. Catocala piatrix Gtt. Catocala flebilis Grt. Catocala retecta Grt. Catocala vidua (Sm.) Catocala palaeogama Gn. Catocala nebulosa Edw. Catocala subnata Gtt. Catocala neogama (Sm.) Catocala ilia (Cram.) Catocala cerogama Gn. Catocala ultronia (Hbn.) Catocala amica (Hbn.) Abrostola urentis Gn. Ctenoplusia oxygramma (Gey.) Pseudoplusia includens (W\k.) Diachrysia aeroides (Grt.) Allagrapha aerea (Hbn.) Autographa precationis (Gn.) Anagrapha falcifera (Kby.) Marathyssa inficita (W1k.) Paectes oculatrix (Gn.) Paectes abrostoloides (Gn.) Eutelia pulcherrima (Grtt). Oruza albocostaliata (Pack.) Ozarba aeria (Grt.) Hyperstrotia pervertens (B. & McD Hyperstrotia secta (Grt.) Thioptera nigrofimbria (Gn.)

BANISTERIA

.)

GF TR xX aa x x + x x x X = x x >. x xX = x x x x x x x x X = x x — x x x xX = x x x x x x xX x x x x x x x xX J x x x x x x — x x x xX x x x xX pa xX = x x x x x x x x x x = x x x — x xX = x x x x x x 4 = x x xX = xX = xX pe x x xX a xX — x x

NO. 29, 2007

Dates Observed

9 May

13 Jul - 19 Aug

6 Sep

23 Apr, 29 Jul

4 Oct

8 May - 9 Jun, 13 Aug 3-11 Jun

6 Apr

19 - 25 Apr

16 Jun, 6 Oct

23 Apr - 11 Jun, 27 Aug 23 Apr - 9 May

29 Jul

8 May - 29 Jul

8 May

11-15 Jun

6 Apr

19 Apr - 8 May

8 May - 22 Jul

9 May - 18 Jun

9 May - 13 Aug

19 May - 13 Aug

10 Jun, 13 Aug, 4 Oct 23 Apr, 10 Jun, 13 Aug, 4 Oct 4 Oct

8 May, 11 Jul - 4 Oct 3 - 10 Jun

23 Aug - 18 Oct

13 Aug

13 - 19 Aug

13 Aug - 14 Sep

19 - 24 Aug

29 Jul

19 Aug

29 Jul, 6 Oct

29 Jun, 19 Aug

29 Jul - 16 Aug

11 Jul - 19 Aug

4 Aug - 3 Sep

21 Jun - 26 Jul, 14 Sep 3 Jun, 29 Sep

28 Sep

14 Aug

8 May - 19 Aug

23 Apr - 11 Jun, 13 Aug - 5 Sep 23 Apr, 11 Jun, 4 Oct 3 Jun

8 May - 29 Jul

29 Jul

22 May

22 May

3 May, 13 Aug

3 Jun

9 May

16 Jul - 25 Sep

Hodges #

9047 9051 9053 9055.1 9057 9062 9065 9127 9182 9184 9185 9189 9193 9199 9200 9208 9209 9227 9229 9235 9237 9238 9242 9243 9244 9249 9251 9254 9257 9259 9264 9266 9281 9285 9285.1 9301 9309 9314 9332 9404 9410 9419 9449 9454 9463 9466 9471 9479 9483 9484 9486 9520 9522 9524 9526 9545

STEURY ET AL.: MACROLEPIDOPTERAN MOTHS 29

Noctuidae (continued)

Lithacodia muscosula (Gn.) Lithacodia musta (Grt. & Rob.) Pseudeustrotia carneola (Gn.) Maliattha synochitis (Grt. & Rob.) Homophoberia apicosa (Haw. ) Cerma cerintha (Tr.) Leuconycta diphteroides (Gn.) Spragueia leo (Gn.)

Panthea furcilla (Pack.) Colocasia flavicornis (Sm.) Colocasia propinquilinea (Gtt.) Charadra deridens (Gn.) Raphia frater Grt.

Acronicta rubricoma Gn. Acronicta americana (Harr.) Acronicta betulae Riley Acronicta radcliffei (Harv.) Acronicta laetifica Sm. Acronicta hasta Gn.

Acronicta spinigera Gn. Acronicta interrupta Gn. Acronicta lobeliae Gn. Acronicta exilis Grt.

Acronicta ovata Grt.

Acronicta modica Wk. Acronicta increta Morr. Acronicta retardata (W1k.) Acronicta afflicta Grt. Acronicta impleta W\k. Acronicta noctivaga Grt. Acronicta longa Gn.

Acronicta lithospila Gtt. Agriopodes fallax (H.-S.) Polygrammate hebraeicum Hbn. Comachara cadburyi Franc. Eudryas grata (F.) Psychomorpha epimenis (Dr.) Alypia octomaculata (F.) Apamea vulgaris (Grt. & Rob.) Oligia modica (Gn.)

Oligia crytora Franc.

Oligia mactata (Gn.) Archanara oblonga (Gtt.) Amphipoea velata (W1k.) Parapamea buffaloensis (Grt.) Papaipema cataphracta (Gtt.) Papaipema arctivorens Hamp. Papaipema lysimachiae (W\k.) Papaipema inquaesita (Grt. & Rob.) Papaipema rutila (Gn.) Papaipema birdi Dyar Achatodes zeae (Harr.) lodopepla u-album (Gn.) Bellura brehmei (B. & McD.) Bellura densa (WI\k.)

Euplexia benesimilis (McD.)

GF TR x xX x = xX xX x = — x

~~ KM KK KK KK KK KK KKK KK KKK KK KM MK

~~ KKK I

~

~

~~ KKK KK |

~ x KK MK

x Ke x |

~ KK KK KK |

Dates Observed

3 Jun - 1 Aug 16 Jul

3 Jun - 13 Aug 29 Jul

10 Jun

29 Jul

3 Jun

23 Aug

19 Aug

19 Apr

9 May

29 Jul - 13 Aug 29 Jul

29 Jul

9 May - 18 Jun 8 May, 29 Jul 17 Jun, 5 Sep 22 May - 4 Aug 11-15 Jun

3 Jun

22 May, 9 Sep 9 May - 17 Jun 3 Jun

3 Jun, 13 Aug

8 May - 15 Jun 8 May - 11 Jun, 19 Aug 8 May - 3 Jun, 6 Aug 15 Jun

8 May, 14 Aug 29 Jun

19 Aug

16 Jun

3 Jun, 13 Aug

8 May - 23 Jun, 13 Aug 9 May

9 May - 10 Jun, 13 Aug 14 - 20 Apr

28 Apr

3-10 Jun

19 Aug

10 Jun - 29 Jul 30 Sep

3 Jun

3 - 23 Jun

14 Sep

4-6 Oct

12 Sep

12 Sep

25 Sep

30 Sep

27 Sep

10 Jun

29 Jul

15 Jun

19 Aug

12 May, 13 Jul - 19 Aug

30 Hodges #

9547 9556 9582 9618 9619 9631 9638 9647 9650 9663 9664 9666 9669 9678 9679 9681.1 9684 9688 9690 9693 9696 9699 9720 9725 9781 9886 9887 9895 9910 9915 9916 9929 9932 9933 9933.1 9934 9934.1 9936 994] 9943 9945.2 9946 9957, 10019 10021 10202 10288 10368 10397 10413 10414 10431 10438 10440 10445

Noctuidae (continued)

Phlogophora periculosa Gn. Chytonix palliatricula (Gn.) Nedra ramosula (Gn.) Phosphila turbulenta Hbn. Phosphila miselioides (Gn.) Callopistria mollissima (Gn.) Amphipyra pyramidoides Gn. Athetis miranda (Gtt.) Anorthodes tarda (Gn.) Balsa tristrigella (W1k.) Balsa labecula (Gtt.) Spodoptera frugiperda (Sm.) Spodoptera ornithogalli (Gn.) Elaphria versicolor (Gtt.) Elaphria chalcedonia (Hbn). Elaphria cornutinus Sal.& Pogue Elaphria grata Hbn.

Galgula partita Gn.

Condica videns (Gn.) Condica mobilis (W1k.) Condica vecors (Gn.) Condica sutor (Gn.) Ogdoconta cinereola (Gn.) Azenia obtusa (H.-S.) Basilodes pepita (Gn.) Lithophane patefacta (W1k.) Lithophane bethunei (Grt. & Rb.) Lithophane signosa (W1k.) Lithophane antennata (W1k.) Lithophane grotei Riley Lithophane unimoda (Lint.) Pyreferra hesperidago (Gn.) Pyreferra pettiti (Grt.) Eupsilia vinulenta (Gtt.) Eupsilia sidus (Gn.)

Eupsilia cirripalea Franc. Eupsilia sp. nov.

Eupsilia morrisoni (Grt.) Sericaglaea signata French Metaxaglaea inulta (Gtt.) Metaxaglaea violacea Schw. Epiglaea decliva (Gtt.) Agrochola bicolorago (Gn.) Psaphida resumens Wk. Copivaleria grotei (Mortr.)

Cucullia convexipennis Grt. & Rob.

Polia detracta (Wk.) Lacinipolia meditata (Gtt.) Lacinipolia renigera (Steph.) Lacinipolia explicata McD. Lacinipolia implicata McD. Faronta diffusa (W1k.) Mythimna unipuncta (Haw.) Leucania linita Gn. Leucania linda Franc.

BANISTERIA

GF TR

~~ KM KK KKK KK KK KK KK KK KK KK KK

1 x wm |

1 KK KKK KKK 1 KK KK KK MK

x Ke Km KK KKK PK

x Kx K

NO. 29, 2007

Dates Observed

19 Aug - 30 Sep

8 May - 11 Jun, 19 Aug 15 Sep - 4 Oct

8 May - 10 Jun

8 May - 3 Jun

19 Aug

10 Jul - 6 Oct

8 Aug

8 May, 19 Aug

29 Jul

3 Jun

5 Sep

13 Aug, 30 Oct

3 Jun

31 Oct

8 May, 29 Jul - 13 Aug 23 Apr, 13 Aug - 6 Oct 21 Mar - 23 Apr, 10 Jun - 13 Dec 3 Jun

3 Jun

23 Apr, 14 Jul - 8 Sep 5 Sep

9 Sep

3 Jun, 4 Aug

23 Aug - 6 Sep

23 Apr, 30 Oct

22 Mar

18 Apr

12 Mar

7 Feb, 6 Apr, 8 Nov

6 Apr

6 Apr

6 - 23 Apr

6 Apr

6 Apr

6 Apr

23 Apr

7 Mar, 30 Oct - 13 Dec 23 Apr, 31 Oct - 16 Nov 4-6 Oct

4 Oct

31 Oct

6 Oct - 29 Dec

26 Mar - 15 Apr

20 Mar - 6 Apr

4 Aug

3-15 Jun

5 Sep

8 May - 11 Jun, 26 Aug - 15 Sep 8 May, 29 Aug - 5 Sep 5 Sep

30 Sep

4 May, 9 Jul - 4 Aug, 4 Oct - 1 Nov 3 Jun

10 Jun, 19 Aug

Hodges #

10455 10456 10459 10461 10487 10490 10491 10495 10502 10518 10520 10521 10521.1 10524 10532 10532.1 10563 10567 10578 10585 10587 10648 10651 10663 10664 10670 10674 10676 10810 10870 10891 10903 10911 10915 10925.1 10942.1 10944 10955 10956 10969 10994 10998 11029 11068 11071 11117 11128

STEURY ET AL.: MACROLEPIDOPTERAN MOTHS 31

Noctuidae (continued)

Leucania scirpicola Gn. Leucania adjuta (Grtt.) Leucania inermis (Forbes) Leucania ursula (Forbes) Orthosia rubescens (WIk.) Orthosia revicta (Morr.) Orthosia alurina Sm. Orthosia hibisci (Gn.) Himella intractata (Morr.) Achatia distincta Hbn. Morrisonia evicta (Gtt.) Morrisonia confusa (Hbn.) Morrisonia latex (Gn.) Nephelodes minians Gn. Homorthodes furfurata (Gtt.) Homorthodes lindseyi (Benj.) Protorthodes oviduca (Gn.) Ulolonche culea (Gn.) Pseudorthodes vecors (Gn.) Orthodes crenulata (Btlr.) Orthodes cynica Gn. Agrotis gladaria Morr. Agrotis venerabilis Wk. Agrotis ipsilon (Hufn.) Feltia subterranea (F.) Feltia jaculifera (Gn.) Feltia subgothica (Haw. ) Feltia herilis (Grt.)

Euxoa violaris (Grt. & Rob.) Dichagyris acclivis (Morr.) Ochropleura implecta Laf. Anicla illapsa (W1k.) Anicla infecta (Ochs) Peridroma saucia (Hbn.) Noctua pronuba L.

Xestia dolosa Franc.

Xestia smithii (Snell) Agnorisma badinodis (Grt.) Agnorisma bollii (Grtt.) Xestia dilucida (Mortr.) Cerastis tenebrifera (WIk.) Choephora fungorum Grt. & Rob. Abagrotis alternata (Gtt.) Heliocoverpa zea (Boddie) Heliothis virescens (F.) Schinia lynx (Gn.)

Schinia arcigera (Gn.)

GF TR 4 = x x x x x x > x = x X _— x x x x x x X = x x — x x x xX = x x 4 = x x x x x x x x > x xX ss x > xX = xX as X = X = 4 _ xX - X = X pie = x x x x x x x 4 = x x = x X = >. x x x xX x x x — x 4 = xX os

Dates Observed

5 Sep

4-6 Oct

3-11 Jun

10 Jun, 14 Aug 14 Mar - 23 Apr 30 Mar

6 Apr

6 - 23 Apr

6 - 23 Apr

6 - 25 Apr

19 Apr

19 Apr - 8 May 26 May

5 - 30 Sep

3 Jun

8 May, 19 Aug 3 Jun

8 May - 3 Jun

9 May, 15 Aug 7 Jun - 13 Aug 8 May - 11 Jun 30 Sep - 6 Oct 4 Oct

23 Apr, 3 Jun, 13 Aug 5 Sep

4 Oct

4 Oct

4 Oct

4 Oct

19 Aug

14 Aug

29 Jul

24 Aug - 30 Sep 8 May, 13 Aug, 6 Oct 15 Jun, 13 Aug 8 May - 6 Oct

5 Sep

4-6 Oct

6 Oct

8 Oct

16 Jan, 14 Mar - 23 Apr 6 - 19 Oct

3 Jun - 6 Oct

13 Aug - 6 Oct 4 Oct

19 Aug

19 Aug

32 BANISTERIA

NO. 29, 2007

SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS

Banisteria, Number 29, pages 32-35 © 2007 Virginia Natural History Society

MACROLOPAUS BREVICORNIS ON TRIOSTEUM PERFOLIATUM IN VIRGINIA: STATE RECORD AND NEW HOST-PLANT RECORD FOR MIRIDAE (HEMIPTERA: HETEROPTERA) -- Many dicyphine plant bugs—mirids of the subfamily Bryocorinae, tribe Dicyphini, subtribe Dicyphina (sensu Schuh, 1995)— are omnivores on glandular-hairy (“sticky”) plants. The bugs not only feed on their hosts but also prey on small arthropods and scavenge insects that alight on the plants and become entrapped in glandular exudations (Spomer, 1999; Wheeler, 2001). Several dicyphines native to Europe have been used in greenhouses to control pests such as aphids, thrips, and whiteflies. The Palearctic bugs used in biological control are prohibited from being introduced into North America; as omnivores, they could become plant pests (e.g., Alomar & Albajes, 1996; Wheeler, 2001; Sanchez et al., 2004). North American entomologists, therefore, have investigated native dicyphines as potential biocontrol agents (McGregor et al., 1999, 2000; Sanchez et al., 2003, 2004; McGregor & Gillespie, 2004).

Recently, the Nearctic dicyphine Dicyphus vestitus Uhler was recorded from _heart-leaved skullcap, Scutellaria ovata J. Hill (Lamiaceae), in Virginia shale barrens. Virginia represented the southeasternmost record of this mirid in the eastern United States, and heart-leaved skullcap was the first host plant documented for this bug (Henry, 1999).

On 7 May 1993, I discovered another little-known dicyphine that proved to be a new record for Virginia when Thomas Rawinski took me to a dolomite glade (“Dixie Cliff’) near Glenvar in Roanoke County. I was interested in the glade because of its colonies of moss phlox, Phlox subulata L., a mat-forming member of the Polemoniaceae that harbors a diverse insect fauna (Wheeler, 1995a, b). During the visit to Dixie Cliff, I found late instars of a dicyphine mirid in thin woods at the base of the glade’s south-facing slope (37° 15.2' N, 80° 10.4" W). Nymphs were on horse-gentian (also known as feverwort or wild coffee), Triosteum perfoliatum L. (Caprifoliaceae). I was not aware of mirids known from this plant and wanted to determine the bug’s identity.

Fifth instars were collected and held at 22-24°C ina small plastic box (ca. 8 x 2 cm) with excised horse- gentian shoots; the stems were wrapped with moist cotton. Adults appeared on 13 May. I returned to Dixie Cliff in late May to collect additional adults, which Thomas Henry identified as Macrolophus brevicornis

Knight. Voucher specimens have been deposited in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Macrolophus Fieber is a Holarctic genus that includes five Nearctic species. The species in eastern North America, in addition to M. brevicornis, are M. separatus Uhler and M. tenuicornis Blatchley (Henry & Wheeler, 1988; Schuh, 1995; Maw et al., 2000). Knight (1926) provided a key to the three eastern species.

Macrolophus brevicornis was described by Knight (1926) from Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, and New Jersey. Since the original description, only Illinois (Knight, 1941) and Kentucky (Henry et al., 2005) have been added to the distribution. Biological information on this seldom-collected mirid is limited to its collection from two plant species: a miulkweed, Asclepias sp. (Asclepiadaceae), in lowa (Knight, 1941), and a ground-cherry, Physalis sp. (Solanaceae), in Kentucky (Henry et al., 2005). Knight (1941) noted “breeding” on milkweed, implying that nymphs were observed. Certain true bugs, or heteropterans, such as lygaeine Lygaeidae (Price & Willson, 1979; Slater & Baranowski, 1990), specialize on asclepiads, but specialization by North American mirds on_ these cardenolide-rich plants is unknown (Knight, 1941, 1968; Schuh, 1995; Wheeler, 2001).

Additional observations are needed to determine if M. brevicornis actually develops on milkweeds; the bug apparently has not been recorded from Asclepias since Knight’s (1941) report. Macrolophus brevicornis, however, has been collected consistently on glandular species of Physalis (A.G.W., unpubl. data). Triosteum perfoliatum apparently can be added to the bug’s known host-plant range. I also found two adults on this plant in a Maryland shale barren (Washington Co., Sideling Hill Wildlife Management Area, near Little Orleans) in mid-June 1994.

The mirid’s seasonal history on 7. perfoliatum 1s incompletely known. Third through fifth instars were observed at Dixie Cliff in early May 1993; by 28 May, adults predominated (23 were collected) with fewer than 10 fifth instars found. No individuals of M. brevicornis were observed on 3 July. In 1994, fourth and fifth instars were found on 20 May, mostly on lower (abaxial) leaf surfaces. Whether more than one generation is produced is unknown. Macrolophus tenuicornis, the only eastern species of the genus that has been studied, is bivoltine in Pennsylvania (Wheeler et al., 1979).

Horse-gentian is a densely glandular-hairy herb (Gleason & Cronquist, 1991; Rhoads & Block, 2000), although its exudate appears not to entrap small

SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS 33

arthropods. Glandular trichomes presumably evolved as a defense against herbivory by small arthropods (Levin, 1973; Duffey, 1986; Gregory et al., 1986; Sugiura & Yamazaki, 2006) and provide greater protection than nonglandular trichomes (Duke, 1994; van Dam & Hare, 1998). Glandular trichomes are toxic to certain herbivores and can _ deter oviposition, impede movement, and alter feeding behavior, as well as the searching behavior of their natural enemies. Sticky plants tend to be “off limits” to most generalist herbivores, which cannot traverse the glandular surfaces. Benefits to plants from reduced herbivory can be offset by the adverse effects of glandular trichomes on herbivores’ parasitoids and predators (van Dam & Hare, 1998: Gassmann & Hare, 2005). Plants might also benefit by digesting and absorbing proteins from trapped insects (protocarnivory) (Spomer, 1999) or obtaining supplemental nitrogen when trapped insects decay and the breakdown products leach into the soil (Eisner, 2003).

Omnivorous insects generally have broader host- plant ranges than strict herbivores (Eubanks et al., 2003). Dicyphine mirids, as well as many stilt bugs (Berytidae) (Wheeler & Schaefer, 1982; Henry, 1997; Henry & Froeschner, 1998), associated with glandular- pubescent plants tend to be omnivores and might be more polyphagous than members of their respective families that develop on nonglandular hosts. The berytid Jalysus spinosus (Say), for example, feeds on unrelated sticky dicots and monocots (Wheeler & Henry, 1981; Wheeler, 1986, 1994). Studies on omnivorous heteropterans that specialize on sticky plants, similar to the study of terrestrial heteropterans that are omnivores (Eubanks et al., 2003), likely would yield insights into the ecological significance of associations with glandular plants and the evolutionary consequences of such specialization.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Thomas J. Rawinski (formerly with Division of Natural Heritage, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Richmond) for taking me to Dixie Cliff and identifying Triosteum perfoliatum, Thomas J. Henry (Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, ARS, PSI, c/o National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC) for identifying Macrolophus brevicornis and reviewing the manuscript, and Peter H. Adler (Department of Entomology, Soils, and Plant Sciences, Clemson University) for his review of an earlier draft of the manuscript.

LITERATURE CITED

Alomar, O., & R. Albajes. 1996. Greenhouse whitefly (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) predation and tomato fruit injury by the zoophytophagous predator Dicyphus tamaninii (Heteroptera: Miridae). Pp. 155-177 In O. Alomar & R. N. Wiedenmann (eds.), Zoophytophagous Heteroptera: Implications for Life History and Integrated Pest Management. Thomas Say Publications in Entomology: Proceedings. Entomological Society of America, Lanham, MD.

Duffey, S. S. 1986. Plant glandular trichomes: their partial role in defence against insects. Pp. 151-172 In B. Juniper & T. R. E. Southwood (eds.), Insects and the Plant Surface. Edward Arnold, London.

Duke, S. O. 1994. Glandular trichomes—a focal point of chemical and structural interactions. International Journal of Plant Sciences 155: 617-620. Eisner, T. 2003. For Love of Insects. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. 448 pp.

Eubanks, M. D., J. D. Styrsky, & R. F. Denno. 2003. The evolution of omnivory in heteropteran insects. Ecology 84: 2549-2556.

Gassmann, A. J., & J. D. Hare. 2005. Indirect cost of a defensive trait: variation in trichome type affects the natural enemies of herbivorous insects on Datura wrightii. Oecologia 144: 62-71.

Gleason, H. A., & A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second edition. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY. 910 pp.

Gregory, P., D. A. Avé, P. Y. Bouthyette, & W. M. Tingey. 1986. Insect-defensive chemistry of potato glandular trichomes. Pp. 173-183 Jn B. Juniper & T. R. E Southwood (eds.), Insects and the Plant Surface. Edward Arnold, London.

Henry, T. J. 1997. Monograph of the stilt bugs, or Berytidae (Heteroptera), of the Western Hemisphere. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington 19: 1-149.

Henry, T. J. 1999. Review of the eastern North American Dicyphus, with a key to species and redescription and neotype designation for D. vestitus

34 BANISTERIA

Uhler (Heteroptera: Muiridae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 101: 832-838.

Henry, T. J., & R. C. Froeschner. 1998. Catalog of the stilt bugs, or Berytidae, of the world (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Contributions of — the American Entomological Institute 30(4): 1-72.

Henry, T. J, & A. G. Wheeler, Jr. 1988. Family Miridae Hahn, 1833 (=Capsidae Burmeister, 1835). The plant bugs. Pp. 251-507 Jn T. J. Henry & R. C. Froeschner (eds.), Catalog of the Heteroptera, or True Bugs, of Canada and the Continental United States. E. J. Brill, Leiden.

Henry, T. J., C. V. Covell, Jr., & A. G. Wheeler, Jr. 2005. An annotated list of the plant bugs, or Miridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), of Kentucky. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 113: 24-76.

Knight, H. H. 1926. A key to the North American species of Macrolophus with descriptions of two new species (Hem.: Miridae). Entomological News 37: 313- 316.

Knight, H. H. 1941. The plant bugs, or Miridae, of Illinois. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 22(4): 1-234.

Knight, H. H. 1968. Taxonomic review: Muiridae of the Nevada Test Site and the western United States. Brigham Young University Science Bulletin. Biological Series 9(3): 1-282.

Levin, D. A. 1973. The role of trichomes in plant defense. Quarterly Review of Biology 48: 3-15.

Maw, H. E. L., R. G. Foottit, K. G. A. Hamilton, & G. G. E. Scudder. 2000. Checklist of the Hemiptera of Canada and Alaska. NRC Research Press, Ottawa, ON. 220 pp.

McGregor, R. R., & D. R. Gillespie. 2004. Olfactory responses of the omnivorous generalist predator Dicyphus hesperus to plant and prey odours. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 112: 201- 205.

McGregor, R. R., D. R. Gillespie, D. M. J. Quiring, & M. R. J. Foisy. 1999. Potential use of Dicyphus hesperus Knight (Heteroptera: Miridae) for biological control of pests of greenhouse tomatoes. Biological

NO. 29, 2007 Control 16: 104-110.

McGregor, R. R., D. R. Gillespie, C. G. Park, D. M. J. Quiring, & M. R. J. Foisy. 2000. Leaves or fruit? The potential for damage to tomato fruits by the omnivorous predator, Dicyphus hesperus. Entomologia Experi- mentalis et Applicata 95: 325-328.

Price, P. W., & M. F. Willson. 1979. Abundance of herbivores on six milkweed species in_ Illinois. American Midland Naturalist 101: 76-86.

Rhoads, A. F., & T. A. Block. 2000. The Plants of Pennsylvania: an Illustrated Manual. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. 1,061 pp.

Sanchez, J. A., D. R. Gillespie, & R. R. McGregor. 2003. The effects of mullein (Verbascum thapsus) on the population dynamics of Dicyphus hesperus (Heteroptera: Muridae) in tomato greenhouses. Biological Control 28: 313-319.

Sanchez, J. A., D. R. Gillespie, & R. R. McGregor. 2004. Plant preference in relation to life history traits in the zoophytophagous predator Dicyphus hesperus. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 112: 7-19.

Schuh, R. T. 1995. Plant Bugs of the World (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae): Systematic Catalog, Distributions, Host List, and Bibliography. New York Entomological Society, New York. 1,329 pp.

Slater, J. A., & R. M. Baranowski. 1990. Lygaeidae of Florida (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Land Areas. Vol. 14. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Gainesville. 211 pp.

Spomer, G. G. 1999. Evidence of protocarnivorous capabilities in Geranium viscosissimum and Potentilla arguta and other sticky plants. International Journal of Plant Sciences 160: 98-101.

Sugiura, S. & K. Yamazaki. 2006. Consequences of scavenging behaviour in a plant bug associated with a glandular plant. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 88: 593-602.

van Dam, N. M., & J. D. Hare. 1998. Differences in distribution and performance of two sap-sucking herbivores on glandular and non-glandular Datura wrightii. Ecological Entomology 23: 22-32.

SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS 35

Wheeler, A. G., Jr. 1986. A new host association for the stilt bug Jalysus spinosus (Heteroptera: Berytidae). Entomological News 97: 63-65.

Wheeler, A. G., Jr. 1994. A new host for Jalysus spinosus (Heteroptera: Berytidae) and new host family (Commelinaceae) for stilt bugs. Entomological News 105: 201-203.

Wheeler, A. G., Jr. 1995a. Plant bugs (Heteroptera: Miridae) of Phlox subulata and other narrow-leaved phloxes in eastern United States. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 97: 435-451.

Wheeler, A. G., Jr. 1995b. Insects of moss phlox (Phlox subulata): unexpected diversity in Appalachian shale barrens. Virginia Journal of Science 46: 148 (Abstract).

Wheeler, A. G., Jr. 2001. Biology of the Plant Bugs (Hemiptera: Muiridae): Pests, Predators, Opportunists. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. 507 pp.

Wheeler, A. G., Jr., & T. J. Henry. 1981. Jalysus spinosus and J. wickhami (Hemiptera: Berytidae): taxonomic clarification, review of host plants and distribution, and keys to adults and fifth instars. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 74: 606-615.

Wheeler, A. G., Jr., & C. W. Schaefer. 1982. Review of stilt bug (Hemiptera: Berytidae) host plants. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 75: 498-506.

Wheeler, A. G., Jr., G. L. Miller, & T. J. Henry. 1979. Biology and habits of Macrolophus tenuicornis (Hemiptera: Miridae) on hayscentedfern (Pteridophyta: Polypodiaceae). Melsheimer Entomological Series 27: 11-17.

Alfred G. Wheeler, Jr.

Department of Entomology, Soils, and Plant Sciences Clemson University

Clemson, South Carolina 29634-0315

Banisteria, Number 29, pages 35-36 © 2007 Virginia Natural History Society

OBSERVATIONS ON A MALFORMED AMERICAN BULLFROG (RANA CATESBEIANA) FROM FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA -- Globally, herpetologists are concerned about amphibian population declines, extinctions, infections, and numerous reports of malformations. Most amphibians have life histories that include terrestrial and aquatic forms at different developmental stages, making them bio-indicators of both land and water health. Although malformations are not uncommon in_ animals, documentation of these abnormal morphologies in the literature help us better track their distribution and prevalence and can warn of potential environment problems if found in high numbers or concentrated areas. Many malformations are natural errors that occur in early development but some malformations can be linked to chemical teratogens and parasitic infections (Gilbert, 1991; Sessions, 2003). In this report, we document an American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) with multiple malformations in its head region.

On 5 June 2006, one of us (TB) captured a female American Bullfrog (SVL 74 mm; 29 g) sitting in duckweed (Lemna spp.) in a shallow (1 m deep), old fish pond. The pond is located in Fairfax County, Virginia, just north of the Tre Towers Court and Braddock Road (Rt. 620) intersection (38° 52' 49.28" N, 77° 28' 47.88" W [NAD 83]). Several malformations were evident upon’ close visual inspection. A morphologically normal bullfrog was observed next to the malformed frog. The captured frog has the following malformations: anophthalmia (missing left eye) and missing orbit, right external nare absent, reduced tympanic ridge length on left side, asymmetry of the position of the left and right tympanic membranes, and asymmetry of left and right premaxilla and nasal bones (Fig. 1). A pigment spot (diameter 2 mm) of the same coloration as the tympanic membrane exists where the eye would normally be located. These malformations do not appear to be the result of injury or parasitic infection but rather congenital in origin. The frog was able to capture crickets and did not exhibit atypical behavior while being observed in captivity. Gross and minor motor functions appeared intact and typical for the species.

36 BANISTERIA

Fig. 1. Frontal view of malformed American Bullfrog showing anophthalmia and missing right external nare.

On 10-11 June 2006, the pond was revisited and searched by three people for a total of 4 h. Survey techniques included hand capture, visual encounter, terrestrial searches around the perimeter of the pond, and intensive dipnetting of the entire pond. All adult animals and tadpoles captured were examined for any anomalies and released. The following species were captured and all individuals appeared to be normal: Terrapene carolina (Box Turtle; n = 1), Eumeces fasciatus (Five-lined Skink; n = 2), Rana catesbeiana (n = 2), Rana clamitans (Green Frog; n = 1), Acris crepitans (Northern Cricket Frog; n = 1), Ayla chrysoscelis (Cope's Gray Treefrog; n = 1) and 150-200 Rana catesbeiana, Rana clamitans, and _ other unidentified tadpoles.

The North American Reporting Center for Amphibian Malformation — (http://frogweb.nbi.gov/ narcam/index.html) reports 182 American Bullfrogs with various abnormalities from the United States and Canada. Nine of these reports are for missing eyes but the causes are not described. There are no reports of bullfrogs with missing eyes from Virginia, although anophthalmia has been recorded for Virginia for other species of frogs (Mitchell, 2004). There are no reports of any amphibians with missing nostrils. Meteyer (2000) does not list this malformation for frogs and toads in her field guide to malformations of anurans, suggesting that this must be a rare or underreported malformation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Dr. Joe Mitchell, Dr. Steve Roble, and

several anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript.

NO. 29, 2007

LITERATURE CITED

Gilbert, S. F. 1991. Developmental Biology. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA. 891 pp.

Mitchell, J. C. 2004. Anophthalmia in an Upland Chorus Frog (Pseudacris feriarum feriarum) from southeastern Virginia. Banisteria 25: 53-54.

Meteyer, C. U. 2000. Field Guide to Malformations of Frogs and Toads with Radiographic Interpretations. Biological Science Report, USGS/BRD/BSR-2000-005, Madison, WI. 18 pp.

Sessions, S. K. 2003. What is causing deformed amphibians? Pp. 168-186 Jn R. D. Semlitsch (ed.), Amphibian Conservation. Smithsonian — Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Jason D. Gibson Galileo Magnet High School Danville, Virginia 24541

Tony Bulmer

Ellanor C. Lawrence Park Fairfax County Park Authority 5040 Walney Road

Chantilly, Virginia 20151

John White 2815 N. Van Buren Street Arlington, Virginia 22213

Banisteria, Number 29, pages 36-38 © 2007 Virginia Natural History Society

MESSAGE FROM A_ PEAT BANK: | FIRST RECORD FOR THE EASTERN MUD TURTLE (KINOSTERNON SUBRUBRUM SUBRUBRUM) FROM COBB ISLAND, VIRGINIA -- Conant et al. (1990) summarized all known amphibian and reptile species of the Virginia barrier islands based on historical, museum, and personal records. Brannon et al. (2001) added observations on four species of reptiles from Myrtle and Ship Shoal islands and Roble (2001) added the Leatherback Sea Turtle to the list for Hog Island. These islands are geologically dynamic and well known to shift geographic position over time (Dolan et al., 1979; Mitchell & Anderson, 1994). Fresh water occurred on some of the islands historically but only a

SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS 37

few support freshwater ponds today. Islands that had fresh water or water in ponds with low salinity often change over time due to over-wash during storms or development of connections to brackish marshes due to island migration. A case in point is the loss of the freshwater ponds on Hog Island observed by Mathew Brady (1925), possibly as a result of the “Great New England” category 3 hurricane of September 1938 that tracked up the eastern coastline with a storm surge of at least 5.2 m (17 ft) (The Weather Channel, 2006). The Fowler’s Toad (Bufo fowleri) population became extirpated on Hog Island, followed shortly thereafter by the Eastern Hog-nosed Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) population (Conant et al., 1990). Thus, the number of documented species for each of the Virginia barrier islands (e.g., Conant et al., 1990), is dynamic.

Cobb Island, Northampton County, Virginia, is a xeric dune with dense Spartina patens (Salt Hay Grass) brackish marshes on its landward side (McCaffrey & Dueser, 1990). It lies 12.1 km (7.5 mi) east of mainland Eastern Shore. The island is migrating landward at a rate of about 13 cm per year from erosion of the seaward margin and sand movement across the island to the brackish marshes on the western side (Dueser, 1990). The entire island is dynamic with brackish marshes forming and subsequently being lost as the island migrates. Peat layers form beneath the Salt Hay Grass and travel below the island’s surface as sand rolls over it to eventually emerge on the seaward side and subsequently become exposed as old peat banks on the beach (B. Truitt, TNC Virginia Coast Reserve, pers. comm. ).

On 18 October 2006, Barry Truitt and Chris Littlefield discovered the intact shell of an Eastern Mud Turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum subrubrum) packed with sand and organic debris protruding out of a peat bank on the middle beach on the seaward side of Cobb Island. It is an adult with a 78 mm carapace and 57 mm plastron (Fig. 1; see Mitchell, 1994, for minimum sizes for adults). The presence of a section of old telegraph wire in the same peat bank (B. Truitt, pers. comm.) suggests that the peat layer in which the turtle was found was present early in the 20" century when humans still lived there (Badger & Kellam, 1989; Barnes & Truitt, 1999). This observation places the estimated age of the deposited shell at about 75+ years, given the estimated rate of island migration (B. Truitt, pers. comm.). The turtle may have died and _ later became entombed in the peat or it was caught in the muck and died there.

Fig. 1. Kinosternon subrubrum shell discovered in a peat bank on the beach at Cobb Island, Virginia. Anterior is to the right.

Conant et al. (1990) did not list Kinosternon subrubrum for Cobb Island. Loss of the freshwater pools and ponds on this island may have occurred during the same hurricane that destroyed the ponds on Hog Island. Thus, the occurrence of human archaeological evidence, island movement rate, and apparent timing of the loss of fresh water on Cobb Island suggests that Eastern Mud Turtles occurred on the island into the 20" century. Neither fresh water nor K. subrubrum were observed on Cobb Island in the 1940s or during later herpetological investigations (Conant et al., 1990). The discovery of the shell in the peat layer on the beach is the first evidence that a population of K. subrubrum occurred historically on Cobb Island. This record brings the number of reptiles known for this barrier island to six species. Kinosternon subrubrum is now known to have occurred on at least seven of the 16 Virginia barrier islands (Conant et al., 1990; Mitchell, 1994).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Barry Truitt for bringing the turtle to my attention and for valuable information on_ island processes.

LITERATURE CITED

Badger, C. J., & R. Kellam. 1989. The Barrier Islands: A Photographic History of Life on Hog, Cobb, Smith, Cedar, Parramore, Metompkin and _ Assateague. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA. 146 pp.

38 BANISTERIA

Barnes, B. M., & B. R. Truitt. Chronicles. University Charlottesville, VA. 283 pp.

1999. Seashore Press of — Virginia.

Brady, M. K. 1925. Notes on the herpetology of Hog Island. Copeia (137): 110-111.

Brannon, M. P., N. D. Moncrief, & R. D. Dueser. 2001. New records of reptiles from the Virginia barrier islands. Banisteria 18: 42-43.

Conant, R., J. C. Mitchell, & C. A. Pague. 1990. Herpetofauna of the Virginia barrier islands. Virginia Journal of Science 41: 364-380.

Dolan, R., B. P. Hayden, & C. Jones. 1979. Barrier island configuration. Science 204: 401-403.

Dueser, R. D. 1990. Biota of the Virginia barrier islands: symposium introduction. Virginia Journal of Science 41: 257-258.

NO. 29, 2007

Mitchell, J. C. 1994. The Reptiles of Virginia. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. 352 pp.

Mitchell, J. C., & J. M. Anderson. 1994. Amphibians and Reptiles of Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. Special Publication Number 2, Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, VA. 120 pp.

Roble, S. M. 2001. Field notes: Dermochelys coriacea. Catesbeiana 21: 78-79.

The Weather Channel. 2006. Storms of the Century. http://www. weather.com/newscenter/specialreports/sotc /storm5/pagel.html. (Accessed 30 December 2006).

Joseph C. Mitchell Department of Biology University of Richmond Richmond, Virginia 23173

MISCELLANEA 39

MISCELLANEA

Obituary

Roger Henry de Rageot (1931-2006)

An article on Roger Henry (or Henri) de Rageot in the Virginian Pilot after his death noted that he never lived a normal life. That was an understatement. Roger was well known for his Spartan life in the Norfolk, Virginia, area where he lived most of his life after emigrating from Europe, and for his propensity to eat road kills and snakes. He was one of the old-time naturalists who was equally at home in the arts. Indeed, many of his writings were as much artistic flair as they were scientific papers. He has been called a naturalist, explorer, museum curator, photographer, painter, author, and eccentric. In fact, he was all of these things. Roger Rageot (Fig. 1) was born in France on 22 June 1931, and grew up in the Charolais cattle region. He endured the German occupation there during World War II and caught wild game for food. Roger and his sister emigrated and arrived in the United States by ship in 1947 to settle in Maryland. He finished high school at the Sacred Hearts High School in La Plata, Maryland, where he learned English. He took some zoology courses at Washington University during 1949- 1952 and at the College of William and Mary in 1952- 1956, but did not attain a college degree. He worked

Fig. 1. Roger Rageot in the 1950s at the Norfolk Museum of Natural History with the characteristic scarf around his neck. Photographer unknown.

with the Smithsonian Institution mammal collection before moving to Virginia. He got the curator job at the Norfolk Museum of Natural History in 1951 and worked there until 1967. Roger attended Old Dominion College (now University) part-time between 1952 and 1956. He spent 1957-1958 in France where he obtained a degree in “License of Natural Science.”

Roger was initially paid as a night watchman at the museum but worked on natural history exhibits during the day. He did his own taxidermy, collected his own specimens, built the dioramas, and educated the public through lectures to school groups and public speaking. He was an invited member of the American Association of Museums in 1954. Roger’s home was a Norfolk apartment in Gent where he kept several animals, including an adult Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum) given to him by Howard K. Gloyd.

Funding was tight at the museum and Roger supplemented his income by collecting specimens of all sorts for profit by selling them to researchers and museums. Numerous specimen labels on snails, insects, millipedes, birds, bats, other mammals, fish, and of course amphibians and reptiles remain extant 1n several museums. He also sent specimens free to researchers like Howard K. Gloyd who was studying copperheads and cottonmouths and Roger Conant who was studying watersnakes. And, of course, he supplemented his diet with road kills and the occasional Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina, Fig. 2). Roger applied to other museums throughout the country in 1956 and 1962 to apparently gain better wages and even received an offer or two, turning them down to stay in Tidewater.

Roger created watercolor paintings that ultimately sold for hundreds of dollars. Some of his pen-and-ink illustrations appeared on the cover and in the Art Feature of the Philadelphia Herpetological Society (PHS) Bulletin in 1963 and in Virginia Wildlife in 1964. The PHS Bulletin cover illustration of a Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) is reprinted as Fig. 3, and a Diamond-backed Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) drawing as Fig. 4. Photos of a Canada Warbler (Wilsonia canadensis), Whitetail Deer fawn (Odocoileus virginianus), Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), and thorn bugs were published recently in The Nature Handbook by E. H. Williams, Jr. (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Unfortunately, in 1967 the museum’s board did away with the natural history section and made it into an exclusively art museum. There was a big public outcry but the natural history museum and Roger were history. Roger then took whatever inheritance he had, bought a Toyota Land Cruiser and lots of supplies, and

40 BANISTERIA

Fig. 2. Roger Rageot in the 1950s on his scooter with a Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) headed home for dinner. Photographer unknown.

wandered throughout much of Central and South America for two years. He traveled, usually alone, through most of the countries in Central America, being robbed in British Honduras along the way. His first destination was French Guiana for which he carried a letter of introduction from the Secretary of the Smithsonian, S. Dillon Ripley. The Smithsonian Institution provided collecting supplies so that Roger could collect specimens in remote places. He was back in the United States in 1971 seeking funding for another tropical expedition.

His 1973 Peace Corps year was spent in Chile where he taught and worked on seeking ways to control Vampire Bat predation on cattle. He and a colleague ingeniously mixed a poison with petroleum jelly to apply to the bats’ backs. They would fly back to their roosts and groom each other, infecting as many as 50 others. It was very effective. Roger remained in South America until 1980. He apparently contracted Hodgkin’s disease later that year and came back to the United States to be treated successfully. He was not considered in remission until 1984 when he returned to Norfolk for semi-retirement. Roger remained active in local natural history excursions and occasionally spent time in Ecuador until he was too frail and weak to travel again. His cancer apparently came back in 2006

NO. 29, 2007

and he died from that and respiratory disease on 7 October 2006.

Roger Rageot was a co-founder of the Virginia Herpetological Society and its third president (1963- 64). He contributed several articles, especially one on the amphibians and reptiles of Surry County (Rageot, 1965). He worked as the naturalist and director for several summers at the Pipsico Boy Scout Reservation and reported valuable natural history observations on the county’s herpetofauna. He later (Rageot, 1969) reported on three rare species from Surry County — Oak Toad (Bufo quercicus), Barking Treefrog (Hyla gratiosa), and Eastern Spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii). Roger also provided confirmation, a shell, of the state endangered Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia) in Virginia at Seashore State Park (now First Landing State Park) (Rageot, 1968).

Roger’s first love in Virginia was the Great Dismal Swamp. During his 16-yr period with the Norfolk Museum, he spent many, many nights in the swamp with only a few blankets, sandwiches, and a few tins of food. He took notes on everything, not just amphibians and reptiles. His collections of animals ended up as stuffed display specimens in the museum’s dioramas, scientific specimens in herpetological collections such as the Smithsonian Institution and other museums, and live animals in exhibits. His fieldwork in the Swamp was supported by small grants from the Virginia Academy of Science in 1953 and 1957.

Around 1960 Roger wrote a large manuscript based on his excursions and natural history observations in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina. He tried to get it published by as many as 10 book publishers but was apparently unable to make it happen. It was accompanied by 85 pen and ink drawings. Some

Fig. 3. An example of Roger Rageot’s pen-and-ink drawings. This one of a Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) was on the cover of the Philadelphia Herpetological Society Bulletin in 1963.

MISCELLANEA 4]

Fig. 4. A second example of Roger Rageot’s pen-and-ink drawings. This one of a Diamond-backed Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) was in the art section of the Philadelphia Herpetological Society Bulletin in 1963.

of these drawings cannot now be located but some of those available are published in the following manuscript. Roger loved the Dismal Swamp. His attraction to it was not only scientific but also spiritual and literary. He gained his inner strength just being there and being one with the swamp ecosystem.

Roger also wrote several very different articles and papers, from magazine articles on the supernatural to scientific papers on natural history. Although he had some training as a scientist, his approach to life and natural history was artistic. He saw and felt art in nature and some of his writing reflected this inner connection. All of the papers known to us are listed in the bibliography. It is not an extensive list, but it is quite varied and broad in scope. “The Apparition,” a story in a 1963 issue of Fate Magazine (but not located by us), devoted to tales of the supernatural and unexplained, was part of a series of stories that Roger grouped into a collection called “Rageot’s Horrors.” We _ have unfortunately been unable to find this collection.

During his tenure in Norfolk while at the museum and in later years after returning from the tropics, Roger (Fig. 5) appeared in numerous newspaper articles throughout the Tidewater area. He became something of a noted naturalist and was sought after for identification on many types of animals, fossils, and even some invertebrates. His eccentricities, like eating road kills and spending long periods of time in the Dismal Swamp by himself, were extolled in complimentary fashion by at least two reporters late in life. And the announcement of his death was covered by one of them with a sort of reverence for his gifts to Tidewater natural history, education, and his unusual life style.

The late Joseph Campbell, noted philosopher and professor of comparative mythology, extolled the virtues and value of making one’s way in life. “Follow

your bliss” is his most well-known phrase. Roger Rageot followed his bliss. He did what was right for him. And he did not care what other people thought about him. In the process, he gave far more than he received and he gave it with grace, humility, and dignity. He was fond of saying that he was a French count by heredity, a distinction disputed by his sister. But even if he was not really of royal descent, he surely acted that way. Virginia’s natural history, especially herpetology, benefited from his service in the defunct Norfolk Museum of Natural History, public education, and his portrayal and love of the Great Dismal Swamp.

Papers and Articles Written by Roger H. de Rageot Old, W. E., Jr, & R. H. Rageot. 1956. Land snails of Nansemond, Norfolk, and Princess Anne counties, Virginia.

Virginia Journal of Science 7: 87-90.

Rageot, R. H. 1955. A new northernmost record of the yellow bat, Dasypterus floridanus. Journal of Mammalogy 56: 456.

Rageot, R. H. 1957. Predation on small mammals in the Dismal Swamp, Virginia. Journal of Mammalogy 38: 281.

Rageot, R. H. 1959. Awakening of the swampland. Virginia Herpetological Society Bulletin 10: 2.

Fig. 5. Roger Rageot at Jericho Ditch, Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia in September 2002. Photograph by David Liebman.

42 BANISTERIA

Rageot, R. H. 1963. Locket from the dead. Fate Magazine 16 (November): 48-51.

Rageot, R. H. 1963. Message to VHS members from the society’s president. Virginia Herpetological Society Bulletin ional

Rageot, R. H. 1964. The golden mouse. Virginia Wildlife 25 (February): 10-11.

Rageot, R. H. 1964. The strange semi-tropical world of the salamanders. Virginia Wildlife 25 (April): 12, 17-18.

Rageot, R. H. 1964. Herpetofauna of Surry County, Virginia. Virginia Herpetological Society Bulletin 40: 3-6.

Rageot, R. H. 1965. The golden mouse. Defenders of Wildlife News (January): 58-59.

Rageot, R. H. 1965. An introduction to the Great Dismal Swamp. Wildlife in North Carolina (May): 7-9, 23.

Rageot, R. H. 1967. I seek the shadow of my love. Fate Magazine 20 (July): 42-50.

Rageot, R. H. 1968. The occurrence of the eastern chicken turtle in southeastern Virginia. Virginia Herpetological Society Bulletin 57: 2.

Rageot, R. H. 1969. Observations regarding three rare amphibians in Surry Co. Virginia Herpetological Society Bulletin 63: 3-5.

Rageot, R. H. 1992. Observations on the mammals of Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia and North Carolina. Banisteria 1: 11-13.

Rageot, R. H. 1992. Notes on the swampfish (Chologaster cornuta Agassiz) in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia. Banisteria 1: 17-18.

Wood, J. T., F. G. Cary, & R. H. Rageot. 1955. The nesting and eggs of the dusky salamander, Desmognathus fuscus Raf. in southeastern Virginia. Virginia Journal of Science 6: 149- N32,

Wood, J. T., & R. H. Rageot. 1955. Eggs of the slimy salamander in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Virginia Journal of Science 6: 85-87.

Wood, J. T., & R. H. Rageot. 1963. The nesting of the many- lined salamander in the Dismal Swamp. Virginia Journal of Science 13: 121-125.

Joseph C. Mitchell Department of Biology University of Richmond Richmond, Virginia 23173

David Liebman 981 South Quail Street Norfolk, Virginia 22513

NO. 29, 2007

My Favorite Story About Roger Rageot

The scene is the south bank of the James River in Surry County, Virginia in the early 1960s. Around 200 teen-age Boy Scouts and their counselors have arrived in their summer camp on a bluff overlooking the James River. This was once “Plantation Country.” Not far away is the site of the first permanent English settlement in America.

After evening chow the campers returned to their tents to ready themselves for that event’s great campfire; the first of the season. There they would be introduced to the camp’s key staff.

At dusk the scouts file into the council ring where the first campfire of that season is lit. Each adult leader is introduced by name and title of his camp job. The adult leaders are greeted with respect: ... one of them ... with awe!

Upon introduction the nature director stepped into the glow of the campfire and nodded to the assemblage. Night-time shadows were moving in rapidly on the gathering. The camp naturalist was in the spotlight. Then, he gave two short high-pitched whistles. From the halo of tree-boughs above the council-ring a great bird flew to the small figure below and lit on his shoulder!

It was a large bird with dark wings and a light- colored front. The bird’s long tail had white circles evenly-spaced on its feathers. It balanced itself with that tail as it perched on the naturalist’s shoulder! A gasp of disbelief escaped from the gathering. Nothing further needed to be said: This was a pre-eminent camp naturalist!

To understand how such a thing could happen requires one to step back in time to see what went on during the preceding week before the camp opened. A nestling Yellow-billed Cuckoo had fallen from its perch on a tree-limb. It was picked up by a sympathetic naturalist. He fed the young bird until it was ready to fledge properly. Rageot combined several ingredients to provide the bird with a balanced diet. Fruit, insects, chopped nuts, a dash of bone-meal went into the mix. The young bird flourished on the mash gulping it down when offered. In the process a great bond formed between the bird and its friend! Knowing that doesn’t wash away the magic ... it enhances it!

Franklin J. Tobey, II 11175 Edwards Farm Lane Purcellville, Virginia 20132-1909

Editors’ note: Mr. Tobey and Mr. Rageot were among the six cofounders of the Virginia Herpetological Society in 1958.

MISCELLANEA 43

LAND UNVANQUISHED Roger H. de Rageot PREFACE

The story about to unfold here tells us of a land subdued in light and shadow, a land extending along the Atlantic Coast from the southeastern part of Virginia to the tip of South Carolina. It is mostly a trackless wilderness, as yet untamed by the rapid advances of civilization; it is also a land of great natural beauty.

As the author of this paper, I attempted within these pages to paint a word picture for the reader of the various moods and colors of this truly unique area of our country, thus giving him or her a feeling of its atmosphere, therefore, in a way, part of this article should be evaluated as one might evaluate an oil painting. At the same time, in order to give a deeper understanding of its often-unique flora and fauna, I attempted here, using mere words, to bring to the reader a Clearer picture of this interesting and colorful region.

EDITORS’ NOTES

Roger H. de Rageot was a naturalist who worked for the Norfolk Museum of Natural History from 1952 to 1967. He was a renaissance naturalist with little formal training as a scientist, although he took several courses at George Washington University. His writings show that he was torn between science and literature, the arts, and creative writing. Roger loved the Great Dismal Swamp and spent many days by himself with little more than a blanket, a few tins of food, and a notebook. The manuscript published in this (and the following) issue of Banisteria, Land Unvanquished, was written in 1961 before the wholesale loss of natural habitat by urban sprawl in southeastern Virginia and North Carolina, Roger’s prime areas of focus. Many of his observations included in this manuscript were made in the Dismal Swamp. He appreciated the formal protection of some of this area when it was made into a national wildlife refuge in the mid- 1970s. However, he lamented the loss of habitat and the changes brought about by urban sprawl.

Land Unvanquished is printed here with few changes except for spellings, grammar, and edits for clarity. In an appendix, we provide modern scientific names for the common names used in the article. Roger tried to publish Land Unvanquished as a book and approached several publishers, but he was never able to see that dream completed. We publish it here to honor his contributions to Virginia natural history. We thank Kathy Paine, University of Richmond, for typing the manuscript into electronic form from the original manuscript.

In the form of various short stories and sketches, I endeavored to explain to the reader (who, I hope, will become as I am, a true lover of Natural History) the swampland as seen through the eyes of its often-timid and certainly secretive creatures of darkness. While these stories and sketches may appear to be fictitious, they are all solidly based on facts; and as Thomas Wolfe, one of our really great novelists, once said in a preface of his own: “Fiction is fact selected and understood, fiction is fact arranged and charged with purpose.”

There are descriptive passages in this book whose main purpose is to give the reader a closer personal viewpoint of Nature herself; it is through such passages that I, as the author, attempted to give a brief introduction to that wonderful science of ecology by describing herein an animal, or an animal group, and its immediate relationship to its current environment and its often clever adaptation to it. I also attempted here to give the reader at least a general idea of the natural history of this remarkable region whose unique biota certainly places it right among the world’s wonders.

“To him who, in the love of Nature, holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language,” so wrote William C. Bryant, a great poet, in his famous poem, Thanatopsis. How often have I taken these words to my own heart, and with my bed roll on my back, disappeared for days at a time into the Big Woods, there to dwell upon Nature’s logical order; in this terrible world of international insanity, frustrations and tensions, with their exaggerated emphasis on material wealth, what other choice did I have? It is to persuade other people, especially our confused youth of today, to follow my simple choice that I have written this article.

rhr, Norfolk, VA, 4/15/61

PARTI. THE SWAMP

Nothing is more disturbing, mysterious or frightening than a swamp. The profound silence that envelopes it during the calm nights, the odd fogs which drag over the canes in the early morning hours, or the imperceptible sounds muffled by its density, render a swamp similar to a land of dreams, a formidable land, hiding a secret unknown and dangerous. The swamp is a world apart with a life of its own, where unknown creatures palpitate.

I am sitting at its edge watching the Black Vultures. They circle endlessly between the azure sky and the green world below and they wait; they are always

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waiting for the death of an unfortunate creature; they make their living out of death. They glide on inert wings, following air currents. They are graceful.

Below me rises a wall of extensive canebrake beyond which I cannot see because the rows of cane stalks grow close together. A bird ejects three limpid notes; what is that bird? I have often heard it! Why, of course, it’s a Carolina Wren!

Canebrake and briers extend for mile after mile, and from behind this impenetrable barrier there is that vague network of pulsating sounds of the hidden life: the grazing of insects’ wings, the hardly audible murmur of the long cane leaves as they shudder from interval to interval with the sorrowful notes of a Mourning Dove; nothing could be so melancholy as the sad notes of this bird; he calls, the canes shudder.

A faint crackling of leaves and I know that it is a tiny, brown lizard; another rustling of dry leaves, more pronounced and more rapid, mark the passing of a larger reptile. The five emphatic notes of a Prothonotary Warbler come from a nearby bush, and all of these sounds are the voices of the forest that form a complex language; by long association with this language, I have learned to place each creature by its proper sound. This I do instinctively and it comes as a natural thing, which out of a long training has become a part of me. A soft, grating noise and I ponder over it; it persists; this time it is only a dry leaf holding to a twig by one thread; it spindles around, agitated by the wind; soon it will break off, and with a few spirals, fall to the ground where it will add to the accumulation of dead humus.

Into the tangled gloom, the vines climb and crawl, forming a green tapestry along the ground; and falling from the trees in long drapery, make archways toward tunnels in which everything is dimmed; an observer is affected by a rather profound atmosphere of conundrum. Though one sees nothing in this maze, one feels palpitating life close at hand. In such places, the Golden Mice, hidden in the gloom, await nightfall to come out of their nests to make their way among the tangled vines; also in these same shadows, the Banded Rattlesnake likewise waits to prey on these same Golden Mice. Then one sees little pathways and neat piles of grass that mark the activities of the Bog Lemmings.

Within a small area are the shattered remains of five Redwing Blackbirds; black and scarlet feathers lie mixed together on the brown leaves beneath the curling ferns; what sharp teeth, what needlelike claws, were the cause of this tragedy? The thick foliage of a great White Oak shivers; if trees could only speak instead of

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carrying that incomprehensible shiver, they would tell much!

Once I saw a group of blackbirds dash madly through the branches with frightened calls, and out of nowhere, a gray bird materialized! The blackbirds flew in all directions to confuse the hawk; this Cooper’s Hawk for a very brief instant stood undecided, suspended in mid-air, wings beating fast; then suddenly, whirling around a tree, came face-to-face with the flying blackbirds. The hawk plunged; its talons struck; the feathers flew; there were pitiful screams, and the Cooper’s Hawk then carried the agonizing bird to the lower branch of a maple; one set of claws firmly held to its perch, while the other set fastened onto the victim’s flesh; the hooked beak began to tear open the yet screaming bird.

But the tragedies of this great wood are seldom witnessed. It is by piecing together the evidences left by these dark struggles that they must be reconstructed: a bug’s elytra, a set of moth’s wings, indicate the passing of a shrew; a bird’s carcass, the work of a fox, or perhaps of a weasel. Here, at the foot of that pine, are three owl’s pellets, containing the regurgitated, undigested parts of some small mammals, bones, hairs and five complete skulls: the skull of a Swamp Shrew, of two Field Mice, of one Bog Lemming (distinguished by its two grooved, upper incisors) and the smaller skull of a Harvest Mouse; perhaps these are the answer to those muffled squeals I thought I heard last night.

Among the briers, canes, and climbing vines, hidden life continues its vague network of sounds. In the gloom, snakes coil and uncoil. Delicate orchids, Pink Pogonias and Lady Slippers set forth their fresh colors. Every place appears identical. A broken tree stump covered with moss and the moss sporophytes erecting their matchlike stalks; on top of each one are capsules containing innumerable, microscopic spores, the seeds of a new generation.

From among the canes, seep the motionless, black pools; the illuminated sphagnum of their shores blaze like green fire. Above the golden canes, tree trunks stand in lines of drab gray. The evanescent odor of fungi, together with the acrid smell of methane gases, plus that of decayed logs, mix to form that alien atmosphere of the deep woods.

Suddenly, there is a faint murmur of rushing wings; this murmur increases to a roar, and the blackbirds pass low over the reeds and canes. A huge, living cloud, they swarm myriad: by the hundreds, by the thousands! The whole forest echoes with their insane chirps and chatters, until finally, the interminable column passes, leaving only the unechoing forest.

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Over this brooding wilderness, an all-enveloping mist rises; visible now is only the outlines of tall trees, until they, too, merge into the gray mist; and the day dissolves into night.

There is a breaking of limbs, not loud, and two live, amber coals peer from the darkness; the Black Bear looks on, while I try to discern through the density the exact shape of this animal. The twin, amber coals vanish; and I see (or perhaps imagine I see) the form of a bear moving silently through the brush.

The sky has a sulfuric cast. A sigh, a frolicking wing, and the bizarre calls of a Night Bird. Such is the Swamp night, unfathomable, dense, and enigmatical. The “Pluck-plukety-pluck” of the Green Frogs sounds like someone plucking on the strings of a banjo, and the croaking of many Leopard Frogs, like the gurgling of a distant stream.

Suddenly, I feel something behind me, and turning, I see a round moon slowly rising, gradually slowing as it comes over the horizon; its light pierces the thick foliage, casting pallid reflections upon both water and trees. In the gloomy alleys, glow the frolicsome fires of phosphorescent fungi.

“H-o-O, h-o-0, h-o-o,” the lugubrious call of the owl crosses the night. And as the swamp softly whispers, a rattlesnake swiftly glides through the canes.

PART IL. BENEATH AMBER WATERS

Because the winter rains were still falling, the ditch was deep, it had grown to four times its original size and was now like a torrent instead of that somnolent thing one usually saw.

Ten little Cave Fish moved across its bottom, staying closely packed together. At first, they had numbered more than twenty; but the voracious, diving beetles and their larvae had attacked them; after that, they were cut to but ten.

At the beginning of April, crayfish had played havoc with the remaining ten; death bore down upon these miserable and inexperienced little creatures. The ditch itself was not full of crayfish. There were females who carried a great number of eggs attached to their swimmerets, while others went about with little ones clustered on their backs.

One day, a pair of playful Otters came from the big lake where the Bald Eagles nested and fished year after year; after their arrival, there remained only a few crayfish.

Regarding the particular brood of Cave Fish previously mentioned, there now remained but one:

this small creature had been born apart from the others. A peculiar turn of destiny had caused the egg that contained him as a germ to roll between two sticks where it became anchored. With a vigorous push, he had burst out of his prison; but his prison rolled itself like a ball and stayed attached to his abdomen. At first, he found this cumbersome ball to be almost intolerable, but later on learned to appreciate it, for it contained the substance of his life. Each day the ball decreased in size, until one day it was completely absorbed. Then he knew his first emotion, anger. It was also his first moment of anxiety. He opened his mouth and water filled it; his anger was somewhat appeased by the microscopic plankton.

For some time, he lived in obscurity under the bank where swarmed and multiplied a multitude of aquatic organisms both vegetable and animal; so he escaped the rudeness of light and came to mix with this swarming multitude. He often fell into a state of pleasant torpor; one night, after he had fallen into one of these states, he almost died: for that night, the whole bank was packed with living things; gills and plants were taking away his precious oxygen and exhaling death; the venomous water surrounded him, and he already felt death slowly absorbing him.

That imperious necessity for darkness brought him back once more under the bank; by this time, it was quite safe, and he continued to live there with the other beasts that also preferred the recesses of obscurity.

He could see large, somber masses gliding upon the ditch bottom; these were the Sirens and Amphiuma, salamanders who looked and lived more like eels than amphibians. The Sirens fed almost entirely on small mollusks, while the Amphiuma fed on small animals of the ditch bottom. The Sirens were very peculiar because they had two perfect front legs but no hind legs; the Amphiumas were also strange creatures that had four under-developed buds where their legs should have been.

Sometimes a beautiful snake, colored like the rainbow, and another very colorful snake, orange and black, came to capture Sirens and Amphiumas, their main prey. During such times, he could feel a great turmoil going on; and he could see indistinct forms twisting and writhing. The two colorful snakes were the Rainbow and the Mud Snake; they both possessed a pointed spur at the end of their tails which was very useful to them, since they spent a great deal of their time burrowing.

Once, one of these snakes, without even intending to do so, lightly struck our poor little Cave Fish with his tail; this had been his first real wound.

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In June, the Pickerelweeds put forth their spikes of blue flowers; and a long, blue line spread on either side of the ditch, which was again somnolent. During this time, our small Cave Fish was under a leaf with only his pectoral fins moving back and forth; he felt very secure under this shady leaf. The harshness of light, which was to him most unpleasant, hurt his sensitive touch, benumbing him.

Through evolution, he had become an individual of a species adapted to a life of darkness; he did not see much of the world except vague and somber forms dissolved into an opaque grayness. Rather, he felt the world of living things through vibrations, each of which was received by the sensory cells, which were distributed over his skin and fins; these sensory cells were the receptors which transmitted the different values of the world of vibrations to the nerve ends, which, in turn, transmitted them to his muscles, which responded accordingly.

One day, a small fresh water crustacean came close to the leaf where our little Cave Fish lay; at once he knew it was a small crustacean just by the type of vibration it created in the water; he darted after it. Then he heard the rasping of the saw-toothed tongue of the Planorbis (small spiral snails) as they filed away at the soft tissues of the green algae; this sound he could distinguish from among the others because he knew it

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so well, since he had so often fed upon the Planorbis.

A nearby worm began to pound upon the bottom and he went after it; this sudden motion created a small, blurred cloud over the silty bottom. A Redfin Pickerel, which was marauding deeper than usual, saw this small cloud of silt; and with a burst of lightening speed, dashed upon the Cave Fish, who naturally felt the imminence of grave danger. An impulse beat through him in simultaneous waves, the implications of which were to flee, to flee deeper into the darkness and to hide; but in his blind fear, he found himself turning in spirals, and he knew not how it was he so suddenly found himself in the dazzling light; that light which had so bewildered his poor senses, and because it was so intense, destroyed them. He kept on spiraling, feeling that dreadful nearness of the terrible Redfin Pickerel closing in on him, its powerful jaws snapping in rage and frustration.

Then, suddenly, he found himself once more under his favorite shadowy bank; once more in the welcome darkness, he plunged among the stems of the Myriophyllum. Also around this time, a rather large school of Mudminnows swam by; and the bad Redfin Pickerel, seeing an easier prey, went after them.

Other Cave Fish of his own species were also among the Myriophyllum stems. He was now quite safe but also very exhausted: his gills were beating fast: gradually, however, the beat of his gills lessened and a drowsiness spread over him. The small, fresh water beasts weaved about him a subtle network of sounds and he slept.

Who, however, can tell what is reserved in the hard Hand of Destiny? A biologist was, on this very day, collecting fish in the Big Swamp; he had been dipping his net for hours, finding nothing of interest; so he was naturally disgusted. It was by pure chance that just when he was about to leave, he dipped his net along the edge of the ditch where our little Cave Fish slept; there was a most violent turmoil in the water like that of a cyclone, and the net went up again; a gleam of pure satisfaction crossed the biologist’s face as he saw a little fish about an inch long flapping miserably at the bottom of his net. Immediately, he realized he had something unusual; then he placed the little fish in a jar, and with that sort of ecstatic happiness which comes to a biologist when he finds a truly wonderful specimen, he stood there holding the jar at eye level, just looking at the poor little Cave Fish: he saw his pinkish belly, that greenish gray back, those black lines adorning each side of him, and the tactile barbels of its lips, which were kept in constant motion as the little fish sought for a way out of his glass jar prison.

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The biologist, looking at this little, odd creature which was a part of the mystery of the Great Swamp, seemed lost in reflection. Being wise in the ways of Natural Science, he knew that similar species of fish, Blind Cave Fish, live deep in mountain caves; and, at the same time, he also realized that the Big Swamp’s black waters were parallel in habitat to that of the mountain caves: thus, the first Swamp Cave Fish had been discovered!

PART IIL. SWAMPLAND SPRINGTIME

The rain fell endlessly and the woods became wet and soggy, wetter and soggier than they had been for two years. The shifting wind blew through the leafless trees which stood silhouetted against the gray sky; from time to time, squadrons of black, croaking crows passed across this gray horizon. The wilderness echoed with beating rain. The rain formed rivulets whose flowing waters were like a song and which were also clear as a crystal. It was in fact as if the intermittent rain had become a perpetual thing forever associated with the great swampland. The rivulets overflowed their banks until they joined together, causing the tree trunks to stand in three feet of water; so that now, there was the sky, gray and grave, the trees becoming silhouettes; and the dark, brooding water mirroring both sky and trees.

A glittering drop of rain rolled down a bark crevice and passed through an interstice beneath the bark, another drop followed, then another; and a little light,

fawn-colored batrachian with a cross mark on its back, whose body was delicate and translucent, awakened from its long slumber, leaving its bark home while it did so. The notes of the first, solitary Peeper came into earshot.

In the last days of February, the sleighbell notes of Spring Peepers were scattered throughout the swampland; at first, these notes were intermittent and timid, but as more peepers awakened from their long winter slumbers, they increased in both number and intensity until they reached voluminous peaks of a great rhythmic chorus.

Waves of spring advanced steadily and the Spotted Salamanders began to lay their eggs in masses of jelly which they attached to submerged leaves and sticks. The males came to the ponds first and deposited hundreds of sperms in tiny sacs, which the females now pushed into their cloacae with their hind legs, causing fertilization to take place. From these eggs, in two or three weeks, would emerge half-inch-long, greenish, gill-breathing larvae; in the fall, they would transform into black and yellow-spotted adults who

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would then leave their native ponds.

At night, Chorus Frogs, who had left their burrows as soon as the ice had departed from the ponds, called by the thousands; and their shrill calls arose to an infernal din.

On the fifteenth of March, the interminable rain abated and the fine droplets of March rain fell gently and rhythmically upon the Great Swamp, ricocheting off leaves which shot from their buds and grew rapidly. The forest was not growing greener, as was expected; instead, there was a mixture of soft yellow and green, which began to cover the trees and was reflected in the amber water; as a result, the Great Swamp was taking on a color which was strangely yellow, finely mottled with green.

Early one afternoon, the rain stopped, the clouds dissipated, and the sun shone radiantly and warmly, giving to the scenery the aspect of a fantastically abstract painting; thus did April paint the land.

The Redwings and the Blackbirds did not band together anymore as they had done during the winter, coming in thundering clouds of fluttering wings to their favorite roosting places; instead, they paired and dispersed, losing their conspicuousness from among other creatures of the forest. Winter turned into spring. As the frogs and toads left their hibernating spots and invaded the ponds to breed, the woods resounded with a chorus made by multitudes of varied voices; at night, this chorus intensified itself into deafening proportions as the frogs and toads, so inconspicuous during most of the year, turned loose in mass excitement. The “Shirp- shirp-shirp” of the male Cricket Frogs went on relentlessly, night and day, while the female deposited her eggs singly, attaching each one to the stem of an aquatic plant.

One night, a large, red moon lingered above the trees and the sweet, musical trills of American Toads

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sounded on the still, night air; their soft tremolos echoed and re-echoed along the edges of the silent water. It was during this time that the frogs’ eggs hatched, and swarms of black tadpoles popped from them; in no time at all, the water was filled with them, and they started their amazing metamorphosis: the long, watch spring intestine of the algae-eating tadpoles shortened, changing into the shorter intestine of the carnivorous, adult forms; meanwhile, the hind legs appeared, then the front legs; the tiny mouth expanded into a cavernous gape which extended from ear to ear, and the tail was gradually absorbed.

Their fish-like existence was over; their gills disappeared and the newly transformed frogs were equipped with lungs; thus did an important change in respiration occur. The ground frogs went ashore on foraging excursions, some of them with the nubbins of tails still trailing behind. The Musk and Mud turtles, expert foragers of muddy bottoms, took their toll of young tadpoles; a group of Night Herons migrated from the salt marshes and dined for several weeks on them, but despite their many enemies, these tadpoles did not seem to diminish in number; swarms of tiny frogs continued to invade the land.

The tree leaves widened and became a darker green. The Wild Irises, which had erected their green bayonets, now cast up their blue flags. May came, bringing with it longer twilights and the blossoms of the Coral Honeysuckle.

Frogs hastened to complete their life cycles: the female Fowler’s Toad responded to the weird drone of their mates and hurriedly laid their eggs in tangled tubes of jelly. Most frogs breed and transform quite rapidly; their breeding spots are temporary ponds that vanish when the rain stops. Tadpoles of Green Frogs take a year for their transformations, those of Bullfrogs, two years; so that these two batrachians, unlike the others, can only complete their cycle of metamorphosis in the larger, more permanent ponds.

Up in the trees were the treefrogs, invisible, since they become green like the leaf to which they must cling with their suction discs; or gray as lichen, taking on any color which matches the object to which they happen to be clinging at the time. Treefrogs, numbering twenty-two species, counting the Peeper, which is the smallest, leave their trees and bushes in the springtime and go forth into dark water to breed, returning later on to their former habitats to continue their loud noises, remaining invisible for the rest of the year.

By the ponds among the lilies were those frogs which all of us know the best because they never leave the ponds: they are the Bull, the Green and the Leopard

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frogs; the last one having rectangular, black spots all over its back. Most amazing of all are the Swamp Chorus Frogs, the smallest of which hardly ever grows bigger than half an inch, and the largest, never over an inch-and-a-half in length. These Swamp Chorus Frogs are burrowers who, once during timeless evolution, were treefrogs who left the trees for a humbler subterranean existence, where they hunted small bugs and worms; their toe pads, once effective suction discs, are now degenerated. There was a time, far back, when all frogs lived in the water where they originated; then they specialized in several directions: some became tree frogs and acquired suction pads, some became burrowers, while others took to the land and developed a skin more or less dry-resistant and became toads. The Green, the Bull, and the Leopard frogs never left the ponds. The Swamp Chorus Frogs, once tree frogs before they became burrowers, therefore underwent two evolutions, a thing most astonishing because what they underwent was actually a regressive evolution; and evolution rarely regresses.

Among the frogs, there is an odd little batrachian that resembles neither a frog nor a toad, the Narrow- mouthed Toad, who feeds almost exclusively on ants and does not fear their stings, because from its skin a fluid is secreted which is poison to ants; a troglodyte, the Narrow-mouthed Toad never leaves its hole except after a heavy rain.

One day, after a big rainstorm, I encountered the Narrow-mouthed Toad: dusk was rapidly creeping over the earth from the east, and in a flooded pasture that bordered on the Dismal Swamp, came a most curious sound; it was a sound that could have been part of the breathing dusk which I knew must have come from somewhere in particular, yet seemed to come from nowhere: a soft bleat, an evanescent wail. All I could tell was that it came from the grass, and plunging into the black of night, flashlight in hand, I tried to follow it to its source. I entered the flooded pasture, walking in ankle-deep water; soon other voices responded to the first one. Suddenly, at my rapid approach, all voices became very still; so I stood there waiting in that silent darkness. It was a long time before I heard anything else. For two long hours I waited there while those voices remained silent as the grave; to me, it seemed an interminable time on earth, until finally, the progenitor of that very strange, new voice grew accustomed to me and to my flashlight. I was now able to approach much closer without disturbing this new creature, so close, in fact, that sometimes I was less than ten inches from it, my eyes just above the tuft of grass from which it was calling. I was trying hard to see between the blades, yet

seeing nothing; it was as if mythical, nighttime beings had invaded the grass. The long hours of night accumulated and passed on. From time to time there was a splash and a piercing scream as some Water Snake captured himself a frog. A large Cottonmouth Moccasin passed into the beam of my flashlight, and that evanescent wail continued there in the utter darkness. Then, around three o’clock in the morning, there in the middle of a tuft of grass with only its pointed head above water, I saw a Narrow-mouthed Toad; and as I held my flashlight beam upon it, it kept calling!

After this incident, I captured more Narrow- mouthed Toads, but they were very hard to find because they always stayed under cover of grass, were shy, and would dive under water at the slightest warning.

Soon, a new day came, bringing with it the whistle of the Yellow-Breasted Chat. I was totally happy because I had solved the puzzle concerning the source of another of those mysterious, nighttime voices.

At the great stagnant pool where the Water Lilies expanded their leathery, green pads and the misty vapors of the morning hung low over the Cattails, the incessant calling of the Leopard Frogs subsided and the banjo-like notes of the Green Frogs continued, with the trill of the Swamp Sparrow in the background, sort of thrown in for good measure. The woods fairly clamored and rang out with countless amphibian voices as spring advanced at a more rapid pace. The flowers burst forth: the pinkish blooms of the Bog Laurel were very white against the gloom. The fragrant, Wild Azaleas, the White Violets, the climbing Yellow Jasmine, and the dogwood, each of these was an early Spring flower. Later on, there would also be the sweet-scented

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Magnolia, whose leaves were just now beginning to grow; and the Zebra Swallowtails already fluttered among the Dogwood.

PART IV. CANEBRAKE INHABITANTS

Warmer weather came; its waves swept on, invading the canebrake, causing the Golden Mice to team with much activity: they built new nests and repaired older ones which had suffered from the ravages of an intemperate winter. The nests of the Golden Mice, graceful constructions about the size of a large grapefruit, were placed at the top of the tall canes. During the construction of a nest, endless trips were made by each little inhabitant of the canebrake: first, long cane leaves were brought and interwoven to make the outer cover of the nest; then bark and parts of cane stalks were shredded into fine thread to make a soft, inner-lining; sometimes, even a few birds’ feathers were collected and added, as a finishing touch to this inner lining.

A young male of the Golden Mouse tribe sat on the top of a cypress knee, gnawing on an acorn held in his delicate, front paws. He certainly was a delightful little creature with his large, black eyes and big ears; and he just sat there, munching on that acorn; his long, abundant whiskers vibrated constantly as he kept nervously chewing on it.

The mating season among Golden Mice was, by now, well advanced; and this young male, for the first time in his life, felt the need of a mate. This great call of nature had come about quite suddenly without any warning: a mounting tension was gradually building up within him; he could feel, pounding through his blood and brain, the sharpness of the mating instinct which blotted out everything else. He was the slave of a new, violent and ruthless need; and he would know no peace until this need was satisfied. A great gust of wind rushed through the tall canes, and in the stillness, they rustled. He moved restlessly, climbing among the vines with great agility.

When he came to the shore of the big, stagnant pond, he met a female of the species who was busily laying the foundations of her nest. She paid no heed to him at first, as he advanced upon her; then she caught his male scent: her pink nose went up, and in the catching of it, felt something quite alien within herself. He came slowly toward her. For a moment, the two little beasts stood face to face, their noses touching, their long whiskers moving to and fro with rising excitement. But the female was not to be so easily

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conquered by the male; an old instinct prevented simplicity in such things, and like most females, she felt the sadistic compulsion to tease her mate; such teasing is believed to be a firm necessity in all courtships so as to prevent them from growing too dull. She, following the true course of the eternal female, dashed madly amid the canes with the male in hot pursuit; now they both raced through the canes, climbing around the narrow stalks. They accomplished incredible acrobatic feats, aided by their semi-prehensile tails. A Great Horned Owl came out of the night; its weird form passed above the canes and was soon swallowed up in blackness. This owl could have very easily made the mice his special prey; fortunately, however, his piercing eyes failed to spot them in time.

The young male, after a most violent pursuit, overtook the female; with the courtship formalities behind her, she was now far more willing to respond to his advances. Naturally, there followed many more mad chases through the canes during the course of which they often, in their wild enthusiasm for each other, vibrated their tails against the canes talks, making soft, rasping sounds. Thus was their wonderful courtship accomplished in the pale moonlight. Two successive nights were spent in nest building; then, throughout the day, they rested.

During the early morning hours of the fifteenth of May, three tiny, helpless pink babies were born in that same nest which rocked at the top of a tall cane. At midday, these young Golden Mice, twisting and whining, had their first meal. On the sixth day after their births, short, dark hairs appeared on their backs and hips. From this time forward, their growth was truly amazing: they doubled and tripled in size; the short, dark hairs grew longer, turning grayish in color, gradually covering the entire body. Whenever the female Golden Mouse went out on foraging excursions, the young often accompanied her, hanging onto her belly; it was not long until they, too, became more sure- footed and were able to follow her freely about.

After the birth, the male declined to visit the nest anymore; and no doubt if he had, the female would have chased him off, for since the birth, she was now bitter toward him.

Fifteen days had elapsed in recorded time since these new Golden Mice had entered the world, and they had, by now, become expert climbers, engaging in all kinds of pranks. In another week, they were able to shift for themselves. They then drifted apart and went out searching on their own for wild forest seeds.

One day, as the Cotton Mice went furtively about their night errands, a terrible restlessness swept the

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canebrake. The Cotton Mice were the largest mice of the Great Swamp; first cousin of the Golden Mice, they differed from them both in size and in habits because most of their life was spent on the ground. This vague restlessness was due to the fact that every canebrake inhabitant knew all about the Old Rattler who lurked nearby. Even the Bog Lemmings didn’t dare to leave their underground tunnels. A little Harvest Mouse who lived in a nest of grass near an old stump, just peeked out once and went back inside her nest, remaining there.

That morning, the Big Rattler rested himself in the warm sunshine at the foot of a tree. A White-Tail Deer inadvertently came too close to him; in marked irritation at this intruder, the rattlesnake shook his rattles menacingly, and the buck fled terror-stricken, his antlers crashing through the branches. The dry sound of those fateful rattles announced to all the rattlesnake’s ominous presence, and every little canebrake inhabitant stood frozen, sort of transfixed in a momentarily arrested state of motion!

About nightfall, the female Golden Mouse decided to get a drink at the stagnant pond; obviously, she didn’t see the Big Rattler there on the shore, for the simple reason that his color patterns rendered him invisible against the dead leaves. The rattlesnake struck: the poor Golden Mouse could feel his long, twin fangs piercing her frail body like two steel prongs; immediately, she lost all consciousness; and from this great loss, drifted into death itself, right there amid the Great Swamp with all of its hidden life and its countless struggles for survival.

PART V. THE SALAMANDERS AND EVOLUTION

In old clearings, unchanged and timeless, the vague murmurs of the woods fuse into a melting, rainy-gray dawn. Timorous amphibians, the salamanders, crawl among fallen timbers whose masses heap together, forming a huge jungle of decay. Salamanders, first appearing in the later Devonian period, some three hundred million years ago, have remained unchanged despite the march of time and still live much as they did during that period.

In late February, the female Margined Salamander, while lying on her back, lays her eggs amid the roots of an aquatic moss called “Fontinalis.” The salamander and the Fontinalis are not to be thought of as two separate things because the amphibian lays her eggs in the roots of this same plant every year. True, one is a plant and the other is an amphibian, yet they are

inseparable as an ecological principle and as such, are closely knit in the web of life. The salamander depends upon this plant for breeding, and the plant upon sunshine and rain for its growth; so that if rain is late, the plant is late in growing and the salamander late in breeding.

Since the larvae of the Margined Salamanders are gill-breathing, that is they can only breathe under water, it is important that they metamorphose into an adult before the ponds begin drying up all over the Big Swamp; because when the ponds dry up, the Margined Salamanders will disappear.

On a late afternoon during the month of June, a Slimy Salamander deposited her eggs into the cavity of a rotten log; they adhered together and hung from the top of the cavity like a small bunch of grapes. Mother salamander lay curled at the bottom of this cavity, guarding her brood and seldom leaving them.

Under favorable conditions, the individual cells within each egg soon developed, then divided and multiplied, until the indistinct outline of each embryo became apparent; the cells continued to divide and multiply, and each organ composing the future embryo took shape, until at last, the embryo was complete; thus did they become individual organisms in their entirety, yet still an entity in the overall, intricate pattern of nature itself.

As the time came for them to pierce the egg- envelope, the young salamanders began to twist around in their embryonic fluid; minute-by-minute, as their excitement grew, they looked like black dots

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moving on a merry-go-round inside a transparent globe. The first young one popped out, then the second one, and a third one, until now the rotten log was alive with tiny, crawling salamanders, glistening black, with silver spots. They sensed at once the job of living and of breathing the moist atmosphere of decay; it would be very erroneous to state here that they breathed with their lungs because Slimy Salamanders are lungless creatures, breathing through the pores of their moist skins and through the thin membranes of their throats. Like a few young salamanders of the land-breeding species, they have no gills, these having been absorbed prior to their emergence from the egg. In a word, they are the perfect replicas of the adult and need no metamorphosis to be able to breath outside of water. These young salamanders feel not only the need, but the actual necessity, to immediately hide themselves beneath the leaves.

August came and the Duskies, small, brown salamanders, commenced to breed in the cypress swamp under the bizarre phantasmagoria where the cypress knees erect their odd forms. By then, most of the water had evaporated, leaving bare the dark, stick mud; the Duskies deposited their eggs on this sticky mud beneath debris and in the few remaining stagnant pools, where the fertilized eggs began their development. When the young Duskies hatched out in late September and October, they would then possess delicate, feathery gills and would begin an entirely new aquatic existence until their metamorphosis into adults; not until then would they be able to live long away from water. Those young Duskies remaining back in the ponds were fortunate; while the others, those emerging from the eggs laid on the bare mud, would perhaps have to undertake a dangerous journey in search of a stream. But hatching out was still far away, and by then, the winter rains would fall once more and the woods would become wet and soggy.

So today, the salamanders recapitulate through their life history, the great drama of the emergence of animals from water to land, which took place some three hundred million years ago. The Margined Salamander, whose eggs are too fragile to be deposited on land and whose larvae spend the first part of their lives as fishlike creatures and another part of their adult stage on land, point out to us how the first step toward their dry land existence truly began; and simply by the ability to lay its eggs on land as well as in the water, the Dusky Salamander demonstrates to us still another step; finally, the Slimy Salamander, by both the ability to deposit her eggs on dry land and the complete development of her young before hatching, the last step

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of this important emergence.

With these timeless amphibians, the pageant of the conquest of dry land continues, since it is an instinct strongly implanted. One can still see alive now that great Devonian drama, which is forever a part of the ageless, Great Swamp.

But let’s go back in time and see for ourselves how the oldest land vertebrate came about: the Silurian period came and passed on, and the earth entered a new era, the Devonian; this was approximately three hundred million years ago. There was still much land below the water. Probably where our swamps are now, was the ocean with its huge sharks and strange sea animals swimming about. But the land was steadily increasing its hold; the first land snails appeared; it was also the age of fishes and many kinds, both fresh water and marine, had become well-established. For the first time since life began, land plants were becoming more conspicuous; and true forest vegetation was much in evidence. Ferns reached their peak: they were the most abundant plant of this epoch; large and tree like, they were beautiful, with big, complex, spreading leaves.

The other plant orders were the club mosses and the horsetails. Lepidodendron, a giant club moss with uplifted, hairy arms that terminated in scaly cones fifty- to-sixty feet high; while Sigi//aria, another club moss, towered to the height of one hundred sixty feet, with only a few of its large, top branches clothed in glasslike leaves.

The horsetails also grew in these forests of giant ferns and club mosses; their straight, hollow-and- pointed stems forty feet high, ended in a compact cone.

Then, long before man, in the Upper Devonian period, a group of fish, the Crossopterygians struggled out onto dry land and became the first land vertebrates, the amphibians; the amphibians became the masters of this newly conquered element, the earth; some of them attained great size: the Labyrinthodonts dragged their heavy bodies through the giant club mosses and horsetails in the swamps of the Upper Devonian period, and left their large footprints in the soft mud.

The reptiles came and they were far better equipped for a dry land existence than were the amphibians. Amphibian eggs, very simple in structure, had to be deposited in water, where they hatched as fish like larvae; while the reptiles produced shell-protected eggs, and the excess of yoke in them enabled their young ones inside to reach an advanced stage of development before starting to hatch. Thus reptiles, the descendants of amphibious stock, in being able to breed entirely on land, accomplished yet one more step in terrestrial evolution. They became free of water, bound to it no

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more; they had, at last, achieved what the amphibians had failed to achieve, and they spread over all the earth. They multiplied rapidly, and the amphibians could only find safety in a submission to them.

Their reign over, the huge Labyrinthodonts passed away, along with other members of the amphibian tribe; today, all that is left of this once great group of animals, which bridged the gap from aquatic to land life, are the frogs, the salamanders and the obscure, tropical caecilians. The timid and _ secretive salamanders, whose entire existence is spent in the shadows of the woodlands, are seldom encountered because of the seclusion of their habitat. By being incredibly colorful, they quite often astound those who discover them: there is the Two-Lined Salamander, yellow, with two distinct, wide, black lines on either side of his body; the Marbled Salamander, a chubby little fellow, is slate-black and marked with irregular, gray bars on its back; and the Red Salamander, who looks like a live piece of red coral.

Only at nightfall do the salamanders really start to dart about; they search for the earthworm, the small snails, the slugs, the spiders and the tiny crustaceans in the ponds. They crawl in utter darkness, silent, mysterious, secretive; and as they crawl, the trees, rocked by a gentle wind, make a long and continuous murmur like a forest song, a song transmitted from generation to generation, speaking eloquently of the past, of a time when the first amphibians peopled the earth, and of the arrival of the reptiles and the great struggle between them and the amphibians for earthly dominance; this song also tells of the great dinosaurs, about the first birds and other warm-blooded animals; and finally, about the arrival upon the scene of man himself.

The salamanders crawl and squirm in total darkness; at the bottom of a stream, a Two-Lined Salamander chases small, aquatic crustaceans. It is the time of day when the horizon is gray, and the trees

gradually transform into fantastic, indistinct nighttime shapes. A Bittern glides through the dry grass, stops, seeming to disappear like some ghost as the coloration of its plumage becomes one with the surrounding grass; then its rapid, throaty notes shatter the silence. In the gray dusk, the magnolias are beautiful.

PART VI. AN EXCURSION INTO THE DISMAL SWAMP

The natural life of a great swamp is always rich and varied. This is so because a swamp is not a single, general habitat; a swamp is the sum total of many, small habitats; and each habitat contains a fauna of its own, which is composed of an animal community existing in close correlation with its immediate surroundings. Each moss-covered log is a universe of life: you turn over a log and you see some white grubs, and you wonder what kind of beetles the grubs will become; you see a caterpillar, and you wonder again what type of butterfly the caterpillar will become. Then, on the mossy side of a log, you notice a tiny, amber snail; you notice how intricate are the markings of its Shell; you are amazed; you look closely at the snail; you see its extended small, yellow body crawling; you find it hard to believe that there is life in such a tiny shell. You turn over a log, then another; and you find more land snails and your attention becomes focused upon them. None is very large but they differ in size. All are marked with an interesting design on their shells. Quite a few have teeth inside of the shell aperture. Maybe you know something about snails, and you are aware that these teeth were developed as a protection against beetles and other creatures that prey upon snails. You also notice that these teeth in their numbers and shapes, differ from one species to another.

Many of the land snails are extremely small, but there are several hardly as big as a pinhead; and they live between the leaves and the fungi that grow on them; they feed on fungi. By gathering the fungi on the

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leaves, you collect some of them. They are very fragile, which makes them hard to collect.

There, under a log, is a flat, whitish shell a little less than an inch in diameter: this is the shell of the Cannibal Snail, Haplotrema. Practically all other land snails are vegetarians, but Hap/otrema is carnivorous, feeding upon worms and other snails. Once I found a Haplotrema in the act of eating another snail: the shell of its victim had been partly eaten away by the sharp teeth of the file-like tongue of the Haplotrema.

Now we are in the middle of the Dismal Swamp, in the Nansemond County area. Because of the thickness of the underbrush, we can advance only with extreme difficulty. Trees, mostly Black Gums and scattered Cypresses tower toward the sky. In the Canes below, it is too thick for the wind to penetrate; and the air is humid, hot and uncomfortable.

My friend, Bob, who wasn’t too interested in biology, but wanted to have a look at the swamp, accompanied me. “How far do you figure on going into this God-forsaken hole,” asked Bob. “It gives me the creeps. I think we’ve seen enough for one; let’s turn back.”

“Why, what do you mean,” I answered, “We’ve hardly started yet.”

“Are you trying to be funny?” shouted Bob.

“No,” I retorted, trying to be cheerful instead.

“Okay,” answered Bob, “this is your show; but I hope you understand what you’re doing because I’d hate to get lost in this place.”

Suddenly, I saw the small, shiny body of a Little Brown Skink on a brown leaf; and I made a quick dash for it, missing it by inches. “Funny,” I then remarked to Bob, “I never miss a skink once I start out after one.”

“Well, just you let me try the next one,” said my friend, Bob, “I bet I can get it.” So Bob, a moment later, tried a Little Brown Skink himself; and as I had anticipated, missed it.

The place was now swarming with Little Brown Skinks; we could see them scurrying among the leaves. Next time, I saw one immobile beside a limb; I made a dash for it and this time, I got it. Afterward, I explained to Bob my pet theory on the capture of Little Brown Skinks; but Bob was somewhat skeptical, refusing to believe that my success was not due to good luck.

As we moved through the canes, Bob exclaimed, “Keep that bag away from me!” I then recalled that the white bag, which dangled from my right hand, and contained a Copperhead, was unreasonably close to him.

“Are you sure that snake can’t get out of there?” demanded the luckless Bob.

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“Of course,” I replied rather politely.

“Just what makes you so sure?”

“Well, for one thing, although the fangs of a snake certainly are useful as a piercing object, they are perfectly useless in gnawing holes through bags. Snakes aren’t rodents; they have no gnawing teeth.”

That morning, Bob got the scare of his life. It happened as we were entering the canebrake that we found it: I didn’t see it, as I was then occupied with some beetles under a log. Bob pointed out to me an object on the leaves, which he thought to be a coiled snake. At first, I couldn’t make out the snake because the pattern of its body camouflaged it well with the dry leaves where it was. I broke off a strong limb and proceeded toward the snake. It was then that I heard Bob running away. I then placed the limb on the neck of the snake, behind its head, and grabbed it by its neck, just behind the head. Its body thrashed madly about, and I had a time putting it in the bag without being bitten.

“All right,” I called to Bob, “you can come on back now; have no fear, everything is under control.”

I heard Bob’s timid voice coming from _ the canebrake somewhere: “Are you all right?”

“Sure I am,” I replied.

As we advanced westward, the canes gradually thinned out and more timber was in evidence, until we began to walk through an area of large timber where the underbrush was scant. The forest floor was abundantly covered with Sphagnum, which extended in a soft, emerald green carpet. In water pools there is a species of sphagnum that floats beneath the surface of the water and looks like green stars; this pretty sphagnum is known as “Cuspidatum.”

Sphagnum is said to give acidity to the soil, and few creatures are able to withstand acidity in soils; indeed, we noticed that life under the logs and on top of the soil of the forest in general had diminished considerably since we entered this sphagnum bog. For some time, all we were able to find was Margined Salamanders who didn’t seem to mind the acidity of the bogs; we even found several nests of eggs of these creatures under logs in sphagnum pools.

I also found a peculiar little slug: I don’t know what it was, but I am sure I never saw it before; unfortunately, it proved to be very fragile, so I couldn’t successfully preserve it.

I heard a very light movement of tiny, scraping feet just behind me, and I turned around in time to see a bright blue tail disappear on the side of the tree trunk opposite me. In a second, I ascended this tree with my hands and knees; ten feet above me was a four-inch-

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long lizard, black, with parallel white lines on its back; its tail was a metallic blue, and it looked at me with its lively, little black eyes. I was almost upon it. I never miss a lizard on a tree trunk, and I knew when my hand fell upon it, 1t would be the end for him. I hesitated: “Poor little, harmless creature,” I thought. “Yet I need a series of Blue-Tailed Skinks for my collection.” “Zoom!” went my hand and I caught it!

As we continued onward, Bob said to me, “Don’t you ever get tired of walking?”

“T’m just warming up,” I answered.

“What do you say we stop here?” said Bob.

“Wait awhile,” I told Bob, “it’s only a few more miles to Lake Drummond; and besides, there’s nothing like a good walk in the outdoors for your health.”

“Do you really mean to say,” continued Bob in a somewhat sarcastic tone, “you’re enjoying all of this?”

“Certainly,” I answered him.

We walked about two more miles, then we saw a big opening in the trees; soon we could see the lake through this opening. The crimson sun was just setting, and the surface of the great lake was cast in a crimson afterglow. In a moment, the sun, which appeared as a great ball of fire, disappeared; and the sky was still brilliant over the spot where it had died.

The trees, Cypresses, Black Gums and Cedars, drew a somber line under the light sky. A pair of Yellow- Crowned Night Herons passed overhead, and their hoarse cries penetrated the dusk. They headed north toward the tidal marsh where they had their rookery. We followed with our own eyes the regularity of their wing beats until they disappeared into the dusk; long after their disappearance, their hoarse cries were still audible.

Soon, a red moon rose just above the forest. We stopped to make camp; I selected a dry spot at the foot of a great White Oak because there was a large hole in its trunk in which I could store things. Since we had both developed a ravenous appetite, we started to eat without even bothering to build a fire.

“What was that last lizard with the blue tail you caught up in the tree?” asked Bob.

“I suppose,” I replied, “you mean ‘Eumeces fasciatus,’ the Blue-Tailed Skink? The one we caught a while ago is a young individual. As the Blue-Tailed Skink gets older, they gradually lose the blue in their tails. The male of this particular species even loses the white stripes of his body, which I’m sure you noticed on our specimen, and takes on an olive-cream color, with a bright orange head. It is then called a ‘Scorpion’ by many and erroneously believed to be poisonous. The female of the Blue-Tailed Skink retains her white

stripes, and with the exception of the loss of the blue on her tail, bears the pattern of the juvenile.”

“Tell me,” asked Bob once more, “are there any poisonous lizards in this swamp?”

“No, you can rest assured that all of the lizards we'll meet in this swamp are absolutely harmless. There are, for that matter, only two lizards believed to be poisonous in the entire world: the Gila monster and the Beaded lizard, which lives in Southwestern North America.”

The flickering flame of our kerosene lamp threw a white circle in the surrounding darkness, and I found myself off again on the subject of lizards: “Lizards are not swamp creatures; unlike their relatives, the amphibians, they are more suited to the drier, more arid climates. With the possible exception of the Anolis, or American Chameleon, and the Giant Skink, which occurs in places farther south into North Carolina, I know of only four lizards in the Dismal Swamp: they are the Six-Lined Racerunner, the Fence Lizard, the Little Brown Skink and the Blue-Tailed Skink. Of these, only the Little Brown Skink and the Blue-Tailed wander far into the swamp and do not seem to mind moist situations; the other two remain close to its edges. The Fence Lizard is an arboreal species very seldom seen far from trees; its claws and toes are somewhat longer than those of other lizards, and its brown coloration is an excellent camouflage for its natural

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surroundings. The Six-Lined Racerunner is restricted to the forest edges and more open paths bordering the swamp, where it is abundant; its introduction into the Dismal Swamp seems to be a result of man’s advancement, as it is ill suited to an existence in damp surroundings. Its name “Racerunner’ isn’t a misnomer, for it can run with a speed far surpassing its size; indeed, when one walks along the railroad tracks or in the open fields, he sees only a slight blur just before the animal disappears into the bushes.”

“What do these lizards feed on?”

“Well, they are insectivorous, which, of course, means they feed on insects. The Fence lizard for example, and I have dissected the stomachs of a few, shows a marked preference for spiders.”

“Do they bite?” Bob wanted to know at once.

“They can and will bite if handled roughly, however, their sharp teeth, effective in crushing beetle Shells, find human skin hard to pierce; their bites generally amount to nothing more than a pinch.”

“How do they reproduce?”

I answered this question to the best of my ability. I told Bob how small, female lizards deposited their oval, white eggs with their soft, leathery shells under decaying logs where the heat of decomposition hatched them. Bob was somewhat amazed when I told him that the female generally abandons her eggs as soon as they are laid, never to return; I also told him that this is a general characteristic of reptiles. Blue-Tailed Skinks and a scattering of other reptiles tend their eggs until hatching.

Then, somehow, I managed to continue my impromptu lecture to the luckless Bob: “Evolution itself can be reconstructed in so many different groups of animals. If you carefully observe a Little Brown Skink, you will notice that its legs are very small and degenerate, and that this little reptile does as much crawling as it does walking; in many skinks, legs are somewhat degenerate organs. This group of little lizards is a group, which actually, in classification, seems to stand between the lizards and the snakes. Then, if you have observed the Glass Lizard, a legless lizard, you'll probably note that this species looks more like a snake than a lizard. One sees exhibited in this species the degeneration and gradual loss of legs, which eventually led to snakes, which are, in reality, through high specialization, a reptile group built strictly for crawling. There are several groups of legless lizards throughout the world: the python and other primitive snakes have attached to their skeletons the remnants of hind leg appendages; this suggests the method by which snakes may have evolved from lizard-like

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ancestors. Of course, the Little Brown Skink and the Glass Lizard aren’t presently in the process of transforming into snakes. At first, when a species evolves, there are many failures; and through such failures come many creatures that arrive at a dead end somewhere in the line of evolution until after some new natural experiment achieves its end; it’s while nature herself is finding such a final result that many species and groups arrive on the scene; and it is also through such trial and error methods that the path of evolution is so often recapitulated. I have found very few Glass Lizards in the Dismal Swamp, however, they are abundant in the vicinity of the sand dunes near the Tidewater seashore. The Glass Lizard, a legless lizard, has always been something of great interest to the lover of nature’s wonders: this is because of its ability to shake off its tail, or pieces of it, which is as long as its body. Let a mammal or a bird pursue a Glass Lizard and off comes its tail! And while the predator is thus occupied with this wiggling tail, the tricky Glass Lizard scurries to safety! Many lizards possess this unique ability, which is a real nuisance to the reptile collectors because this tail appendage comes off so easily, one has to be very careful in capturing them. Each segment of the Glass Lizard’s tail has a weak spot and a valve that closes off the blood vessels; in due time, a new tail is regenerated. Many instances of the regeneration of organs may be cited in reptiles; and in amphibians, it is very frequent. In the lower animal kingdom, it is a thing of everyday life; however, as we move upward in the scale of evolution, tissues become more complex and take on more individuality, until regeneration becomes less and less possible.”

“This is much too deep for me,” said Bob. “I hate to say so, but I didn’t get half of it!”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to, but I’m sure some of it must have sunk tn.”

“Of course, it’s all very interesting, but Id like to talk about something else for a change. I just got out of school yesterday afternoon, and here I am sitting in the middle of a lousy swamp with the mosquitoes eating me up, and you still talking about lizards!”

“Why, what’s a few mosquitoes, you ought to see them later on in the summer, Bob.”

“Please don’t talk about ‘em; I don’t want to know anything about mosquitoes of the Dismal Swamp!”

“Hey,” shouted Bob, “look up there at that big bat on our lamp!”

I saw a large Polyphemus Moth which had been attracted to our light. “Pass me the carbon tetrachloride,” I said. “No, not that, that’s a jar of formaldehyde!”

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“TI don’t know the difference,” screamed the luckless Bob.

“Look here, Bob, in that can under the knapsack; yes, that’s the right one!” I held the can under the moth and all at once, with a gentle touch, I knocked it into the can and closed the can on him; I heard its wings frantically beating against the sides of the can; I was worried about this because the specimen could so quickly damage itself, for the wing scales can come off so easily. Soon, however, the carbon tetrachloride took effect and the moth grew still. I was happy to obtain this specimen because I was much interested in large, nocturnal moths.

“Let’s turn in,” I told Bob. Bob was soon fast asleep, his snoring resounded in the still night, getting on my nerves because it destroyed the purity and harmony of the usual forest sounds; I had to move because I just couldn’t stand it any longer. I selected a spot ten feet away from him, only to discover that his snoring was still audible. It was not until I had moved a full twenty feet away from Bob that I could, at last, enjoy the pure harmony of the night, which now came to my ears like a symphony of strange voices.

PART VII. DISMAL SWAMP INSECTS

The first, faint light of dawn tinted the horizon, and the hitherto obscure forest forms became more distinct. The sun began its gradual ascent, and the “Rat-tat-tat” of the Pileated Woodpecker pierced the bright morning atmosphere. I saw this large woodpecker working away at the wood of a dead Elm, getting at the boring larvae of a species of Longhorn Beetle. Its crest was red as fire under the morning sun; its body was black, with white on the neck, tail and wings. A handsome bird, the Pileated Woodpecker is common in the Lake Drummond area.

A Red Bat still hung on a twig; in such a position, I saw how easily it could be mistaken for a dead leaf.

A large, black scarab with much difficulty struggled up a mound of dirt with a round ball of dung which it pushed from a backward position with its hind legs. Although the ball rolled back down each time the scarab reached the summit of the mound, it persistently tried again; finally, luck was with the scarab and he made it.

The early Egyptians once held the scarab to be sacred because they saw in the ball that the scarab rolls about, something similar to the work of planets. In reality, when the scarab rolls its ball, it is searching for a suitable place to bury it; once such a place is found,

the scarab then digs a hole and pushes the ball inside of it and lays an egg on top of it; a small, white grub emerges from this egg, which then feeds on the ball of dung and metamorphoses into an adult scarab beetle.

At noon, two Red-Shouldered Hawks soared up high into the azure sky, their calls, long, harsh whistles, came in close repetitions.

Along the shores of an irrigation canal, the Six- Spotted Tiger Beetles move in small armies. Their carapaces are a brilliant blue, and they have the appearance of small sapphires in motion. They move on long, slender legs at amazing speeds for their size; they seem to be moving constantly in an aimless manner, but their course is not aimless, for they are searching for the smaller insects that comprise their diet. The voracious Tiger Beetles are to the insect world what sharks are to the sea and falcons are to the air.

Irrigation ditches in Nansemond County are fairly numerous, and their water runs through the swamp like long, black ribbons; on the narrow strips of sandy soil forming their shores, live hosts of creatures who shun the shady forest; these strips of open ground are the world of an infinite variety of beautiful butterflies: the three most striking butterflies to be found there are the Palamedes and the Tiger and Zebra swallowtails. Sometimes Tiger Swallowtails will gather by the hundreds around a waterhole and whenever one approaches, take off in a cloud of yellow-and-black fluttering winds. The Zebra Swallowtail is not the only sociable drinker; there is also a small butterfly with pale blue wings that likes to come en masse to a moist spot on the ground. This small butterfly species is the attractive “Silver Blue,” so called because of the silver coloration of its under wings.

Perhaps there is no other object in nature which attracts as much attention as do butterflies; their beauty and brilliant colors place them high among nature’s favorites. It is hard to believe that these gems of living creation spend most of their existence as a caterpillar, a form of grub; but truth is stranger than fiction. Most butterflies have a favorite plant or tree upon which they feed, and there on a twig or a leaf, the female deposits her eggs. From these eggs a tiny grub emerges which then grows into an adult butterfly.

Caterpillars are often odd-looking things with horns and projections, or hairs, covering their bodies; sometimes these horns or hairs are a means of protection, but more often they are just ornamental. The caterpillar of the Royal Moth, one of the largest moths, is a huge, green grub about four inches in total length, green with black-and-white designs, and with four or five aggressive, orange horns striped with black

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near its head; it looks like something from outer space. After a period of time which varies