‘AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 453 
Niphea—continued. 
N. albo-lineata (white-lined). 
lineata. 
N. oblonga (oblong).* fl. white, axillary and terminal, drooping. 
Winter. l oblong-cordate, toothed, rugose. A. lft. Guatemala, 
1841. (B. R. 1842, 5.) 
N. rubida (reddish). A synonym of Phinæa rubida. 
NIPHOBOLUS. Included under Polypodium (which 
A synonym of Phinewa albo- 
see), 
NIPHOPSIS. Included under Polypodium (which 
see). 
NISSOLIA (named after William Nissole, French 
botanist, Professor at Montpellier, born 1647, died 1735). 
ORD. Leguminosc. A small genus (only two species) of 
stove suffruticose herbs, of twining habit, indigenous to 
tropical America. Flowers yellow, in axillary racemes, 
or thyrsoid at the tips of the branches. Pods linear. 
Leaves impari-pinnate ; leafiets few, exstipellate ; stipules 
setaceous. Nissolias thrive in a peat and loam com- 
post. Propagated by cuttings of short, stubby, half- 
ripened shoots, in spring or summer. Probably none of 
the species are now in cultivation. 
NITIDUS. Having an even, smooth, polished sur- 
face, as instanced in many seeds. 
NITTA-TREE. See Parkia africana. 
NIVENIA (named in honour of James Niven, a 
botanical collector, especially of African plants). SYN. 
Paranomus. Ok D. Proteacee. A genus comprising a 
dozen species of large greenhouse, evergreen, erect, leafy 
shrubs, natives of South Africa. Flowers in terminal 
or axillary spikes; florets in fours, within a persistent, 
hairy involucre of four leaves. Leaves simple or much 
divided, with filiform, sharp-pointed segments. The 
species require treatment similar to Protea (which 
see). The two species here described are probably the 
only ones yet introduced. 
N. crithmifolia (Crithmum-leaved). 
sessile, cylindrical, dense. July. 
almost filiform, lin. to 14in. long. 
under name of Protea Lagopus.) 
N. media (middle). . purple; spikes ovate-oblong, terminal, 
solitary or sub-umbellate. Pral: L. sub- triternate, glabrous, 
Zin. long. A. 2ft. 1786. (A. B. R. 234, under name of Protea 
spicata.) 
NIVEUS. Snow-white; the purest white. 
NOCCA. A synonym of Lagascea. 
NOCCÆA. A synonym of Lagascea (which see). 
NOCTUA (Night Moths). A name applied with a 
considerable diversity of comprehensiveness in respect 
to the number of insects included under it, though, 
even in the widest acceptance, the species are all 
heavy in body, with somewhat narrow front wings, dull 
coloured, but variegated with spots and cross bands. 
Used originally to denote any member of the great 
group now called Noctuina, it became restricted to the 
family Noctuide, and finally to the genus Noctua. A 
brief account of the family Noctwide is here given. The 
distinctive characters are not easily put into words, 
yet the general aspect is somewhat easily recognised in 
the family. The front wings are narrow and laid 
flat, and so overlap as to render the whole insect 
narrow when at rest. In most of the arta hg 
spread of wi averages about 1 in., varying rom in. 
to 2hin, Tc tone ats usually cylindrical, thick, and 
smooth, and hide during the day either below ground 
or in and below the plants on which they feed at night : 
they are usually dull in colour of markings (see Fig. 
695). The pupw are protected in earthen cocoons 
underground. The family includes four British genera, 
viz.: Rusina with one species, which has the fore wings 
brown, with three dark cross lines, and the hind wings 
fi. purple; spikes sub- 
J. bi- or tri-ternate, slender, 
h. 4ft. 1810. (A. B. R. 243, 
dark grey, with darker fringes; Triphena (the Yellow | 
Under-wings), from 14 in. to 2jin. in spread of wing, easily 
Noctua—continued. 
known by the hind wings being yellow or orange, with 
a black band along the rear margin; Agrotis (the Dart 
Moths), and Noctua, both of which latter have grey hind 
wings, and vary from lin. to 2in. in spread of wings; the 
chief differences between them resting in the narrower 
fore wings, and, in Agrotis, different arrangements in 
markings of the fore wings. Agrotis numbers twenty- 
three British species, Noctua twenty, and Triphena six. 
The larve of almost all these genera devour herbaceous 
plants or Willows; and many of them can thrive on a 
large variety of plants. Some attack the roots, others 
the leaves and the young stems, of many of our culti- 
vated potherbs; and a considerable proportion may be 
inciuded among the most hurtful of garden pests. In- 
deed, this family probably contains the Moths most 
hostile to gardeners. Noctua is, perhaps, the least in- 
jurious of the three genera, since few of the larva in 
it are in the habit of feeding largely on garden produce, 
Triphena, though with fewer species, is probably more 
Fig. 695. CATERPILLARS OF TURNIP MOTH (AGROTIS SEGETUM). 
destructive ; but pre-eminent in this respect is Agrotis. 
In this genus, many of the species live habitually on 
Turnip roots (see Turnip Moth), on Cabbages, and on 
almost all other vegetables grown for food. The most 
injurious kinds may be specified as the Turnip Moth 
(A. segetum), the Heart and Dart (A. erclamat ionis) — 
like the last, very destructive to Turnip roots in winter, 
though omnivorous when pressed by hunger—the Garden 
Dart (A. nigricans), and the White-line Dart (A. Tritici) ; 
though several of the remaining species are also harmful 
at times. To attempt to describe the above species in- 
dividually, would far exceed the space available here. 
Amongst the best methods for getting rid of the cater- 
pillars are to lay soot or gas-lime around the stems of the 
plants, co as to prevent access to them ; or to manure 
with guano, and earth-up the plants, to stimulate re- 
pair of injuries caused by the insects. If only a few 
choice plants are attacked, it is advisable to remove the 
| soil from the upper part of the root, and to pick out 
