Nov. 1, 1S70.1 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



249 



change their position. These insects defy the ex- 

 treme cold oi" New England, why should they not 

 bear the milder temperature of Old England ? 



1 mention these as samples ; a vast number of 

 others might be named as worthy of our notice, 

 either for their beauty or their usefulness. 



Among the smaller Vertebrates are many whose 

 naturalization would well repay the trouble incurred 

 in establishing them in their new homes ; to wit, 

 several of the frogs and lizards : our native insect- 

 feeders are not so numerous, that the addition of 

 a few more would interfere with those already 

 existing. 



It is scarcely perhaps necessary to speak of plants. 

 The numerous " escapes " which are gradually find- 

 ing their way into our flora, prove how many foreign 

 productions are willing to take kindly to our soil 

 if permitted so to do. In this way the not very 

 interesting Galinsoga and Claytonia, the pretty 

 Veronica Buxbaumii and the handsome Impatiens 

 falva have in recent years acquired the rights of 

 citizenship in Great Britain ; and at this moment, 

 at least one other plant, a near relation of the 

 Saxifrages, Tellina, is in process of being natural- 

 ized. 



Why should we not guide and encourage this 

 tendency, and invite to our shores such plants as 

 are signalized by beauty of form or peculiarity of 

 structure ? There is no insurmountable barrier that 

 I am aware of to the introduction of various ground 

 orchids, or to what are commonly called "Alpines," 

 many of which now almost literally " waste their 

 sweetness on the desert air." 



America could furnish us with many a plant, 

 terrestrial and aquatic, which — whatever florists 

 might think of them — would form a welcome addi- 

 tion to the scenery of our lanes and byways. Who 

 that has travelled in the States or Canada can for- 

 get the graceful Houstonia carulea, so common in 

 fields and waste places, which it enlivens with its 

 dainty blue flowers throughout the spring and 

 summer? It is known, by the way, in different 

 parts of the States by the rather opposite names of 

 Quaker girls and Ballet girls ! Among aquatics 

 there is the Waterlily {Nymphcea odorata), a good 

 deal like our own Nymphcea alba, but with flowers 

 somewhat larger, of a pinker tiut, and diffusing an 

 odour which justifies its specific name. 



Lastly, as our Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium 

 Calceolus) is fast disappearing, if it has not been 

 already eradicated, might not its place be in time 

 supplied by its hardy relatives, C. spectabile, C. 

 pubescens, &c. ? 



There is no doubt, though it may sound rather 

 paradoxical, that an introduced plant will often 

 flourish more freely, and altogether succeed better 

 than a native: witness the Water Thyme (JJdora 

 canadensis), which is now far more frequently met 

 with in England than in Canada; or the White 



Clover {Trifolium repens), which is fast destroying 

 the native ferns of New Zealand; our common 

 furze {JJlex europceus) has spread with great ra- 

 pidity over the island of Madeira. 



I do not imagine that the veriest purist could 

 object to seeing new objects of beauty or interest 

 added to our fauna and flora. It does not touch 

 the question — be it remembered — of attempting to 

 supply deficiencies in rare species by the aid of the 

 foreign collector. I am no advocate of that, as I 

 believe the principle to be altogether wrong. But 

 that is no reason why our senses should not be 

 gratified and our scenery enlivened by the presence 

 of new species, about whose introduction there 

 could be no mistake, as its date would be carefully 

 recorded. 



Havre. W. W. Spiceb. 



SMOTHER ELIES, CHOLERA ELIES, 

 WINGED APHIDES. 



rpiIE swarms of flies with which we are now 

 -*~ tormented, flying into our mouths, flying and 

 settling upon everything, are the last autumnal and 

 winged brood of the aphides, chiefly of the cabbage 

 and turnip crops. The suddenness of their appear- 

 ance in the winged state is no new phenomenon. 

 Several weeks ago complaints were made to us of 

 black grubs which were found by thousands at the 

 bottom of the stems of vegetables, which proved 

 to be larvae of lady-birds, or Coccinellse, which had 

 been feeding upon the plant-lice which had already 

 attacked the plants in vast quantities. The wonder 

 at the present time is the immeuse number of the 

 winged flies ; but this is easily explained, first by the 

 long-continued dry and hot weather, and secondly 

 by the prevailing east wind, which, although not of 

 itself producing the flight of flies, has evidently a 

 peculiar atmospheric effect in promoting their extra 

 development. The singular but well-known history 

 of the aphides is sufficient to account for even a 

 more extensive visitation of these creatures. The 

 males are only produced in the autumn ; they are 

 winged, as is also the case with the brood of females 

 simultaneously produced. After a single pairing, 

 the female commences to lay eggs, and in the fol- 

 lowing spring to bring forth living young. These 

 wingless young, without further impregnation, also 

 bring forth wingless progeny ; and this state of 

 things goes on through the spring, summer, and 

 early autumn months, until males are again produced, 

 to repeat the cycle of existence. Now it has been 

 ascertained that there are as many as from twelve 

 to twenty generations in a single year, and, according 

 to Kyber, a female aphis has been known to con- 

 tinue breeding for four years under very peculiar 

 circumstances. We may, therefore, place full confi- 

 dence in Reaumur's statement, that a single female 

 aphis may be the progenitor of 5,904,900,000 de- 



