= 
* 
name in Malabar). 
POER 
534 
t Otiorhynchus continued. 
mixed with oil, round the tree stems, and along the 
base of the walls against which Vines and other plants 
liable to injury are trained. Gas-lime on the soil, or 
soot or lime, would probably be of service, by preventing 
the passage of the beetles; and these applications, with 
or without paraffin or carbolic acid solutions, or gas- 
water, would help to destroy the larve in the soil around 
the roots of plants. Where a Vine border is badly in- 
fested, the best course is to remove the soil to a depth 
of Hin. or Ĝin. replacing it with new material. Where 
the beetles are numerous, and destructive to buds 
and shoots, it is necessary to use means for their cap- 
ture. They fall very readily off their food-plants when 
these are shaken, or when a light is brought into their 
vicinity. Hence, it is advisable to lay cloths or papers, 
or to invert an open umbrella beneath the plants, which 
should then be shaken, and the fallen beetles swept 
together and killed by means of boiling water; or they 
may be shaken into rough trays tarred inside. When 
plants turn sickly without evident cause, investigation 
should be made, and, if larvæ are found, they should be 
destroyed. 
OTOCHILUS (from ous, otos, an ear, and cheilos, a 
lip; referring to the small, ear-like appendages at the 
base of the lip). Syn. Tetrapeltis. ORD Orchider. A 
genus containing three or four species of stove, epiphytal 
orchids, natives of the Himalayas and Burmah. Flowers 
more or less conspicuous than in Celogyne, loosely 
racemose; sepals and petals almost equal, free, narrow, 
spreading ; lip sessile at base of column, saccate at base. 
Pseudo-bulbs proliferous, two-leaved, continuously pro- 
duced one above the other, each successive one being 
emitted just below the apex of the old one, and there 
throwing out a few fibrous roots; rhizome none. The 
two species mentioned below require an intermediate 
house, and an abundant supply of moisture when 
growing. Pot the plants in peat fibre, pieces of char- 
ve coal, and sphagnum. 4 
O. fragrans (fragrant). jl. white, in erect racemes, bin. long; 
linear-lanceolate ; petals linear ; lateral lobes of lip slightly 
acute, middle one ovate-lanceolate. June. l. shortly petiolate, 
oblong-lanceolate, 6in. to Sin. long, plicate. Stem ascendent, 
short, scaly, terete. Nepaul, 1836. SYN. Tetrapeltis fragrans. 
O. fusca (brownish). fl. sweetly scented, dis in dense, many- 
flowered, nodding racemes; sepals and petals obtuse ; lip golden, 
tinged with rose; ovary, bracts, column — rachis) fuscous. 
A l. Mnear-lanceolate. Pseudo-bulbs Ein. to Sin. long, 
lin. thick. R. 9in. Nepaul, 1840. (B. M. 3921.) 
OTOSTEMMA. Included under Hoya (which see). 
OTTELIA (said to be derived from Ottel, the native 
Syn. Damasonium. ORD. Hydro- 
charideæ. A genus comprising six or seven species of 
short-stemmed, stove or greenhouse, aquatic herbs, 
natives of tropical Asia, Japan, Australia, the Mas- 
carene Islands, tropical and sub-tropical Africa, and 
Brazil. Flowers hermaphrodite, in a tubular, shortly 
bifid, solitary spathe, sessile; calyx segments oblong 
or linear, rigid, membranous; perianth segments much 
larger, broadly ovate or orbiculate. Leaves clustered, 
some submerged on short petioles, others long-stalked, 
floating, ovate-oblong or very broadly cordate. The 
undermentioned species, the only ones yet introduced, 
require to be grown in a cistern or pan of water, 
placed in the stove. Propagation is effected by seeds. 
O. indica (Indian). f. white, on radical, naked, one-flowered 
scapes; perianth segments roundly-obovate, undulately striate, 
twice as long as the calyx segments. August. l. broadly ovate, 
Psat por en = cos edger oa a alee Rootstock and 
ow. i N. L 
De rong e 9 es, 0 1, under name of 
O. ovalifolia (oval-leaved).* fl., outer perianth segments green 
iin. to lin. long; inner ones pale Siow. lite. to 2in. in Mater 
spathe about ljin. long. Summer. l. ovate or oblong, 2in. to din. 
long when fect, obt rounded 
at all — 2 ye at sag at the base, scarcely or not 
Wie THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
OTTER MOTH (Hepialus Humuli). This insect, 
which is, perhaps, more widely known by the names 
„Ghost Moth” and Ghost Swift,’ belongs to a well- 
characterised group of Moths, included under the genus 
Hepialus, which are popularly known as “ Swifts,” 
because of the rapid darting flight of most of the 
species. Five species are native in Britain, the Ghost 
Swift being the largest and most conspicuous, because 
of the white upper surface of the wings of the male, 
and its peculiar hovering flight in the dusk of evening. 
The attraction to the frequented spot is probably a 
female, concealed among the herbage, above which the 
male swings almost with the sweep of a pendulum. 
The popular name of “Ghost” is due to the colour, 
and to the sudden disappearance of the insect when it 
settles down among the herbage. 
The Swifts are readily recognised by their antennæ 
being slender and very short, not reaching to the back 
of the thorax; and, in addition, the wings are long 
and rather narrow, with a space between the front and 
hind pairs, on each side, just at the roots. They all 
fly in the evening twilight. The larve are long, and 
rather slender; and in colour are greyish or dull yellow, 
with a brown head, and a brown, horny plate on the 
back of the second ring of the body. They feed on 
the roots of many herbaceous plants, burrowing into 
those large enough to allow of their entrance. They 
change, in cocoons spun in the larger, or amongst the 
smaller, roots, into brown pupæ, with long bodies, 
strongly ringed, each ring bearing short stiff hairs, by 
means of which the pupæ push their way to the surface 
of the soil before the moths emerge from them. 
The male Otter Moth, in the usual form, as stated 
above, has all the upper surface of the wings silvery- 
white, with brown fringes; but, in the Shetland Islands, 
varieties occur that show all transitions in colour 
between the ordinary male and the female. The female 
reaches about 2tin. or 2łin. in spread of wings, while 
the male averages only about 2in. The front wings of 
the female are yellow in colour, with irregular spots, 
and a broken band near the hind margin, brick-red; 
the hind wings are dull leaden-grey at the base, tawny 
near the margin. The larve of the Otter Moth, and 
probably of the common Swift also, sometimes eat roots 
of Hops, and of a few garden plants, but, fortunately, 
seldom prove very injurious. The only sign of their 
presence is the withering of the plants without visible 
cause. 
Remedies. The roots should be examined, and the 
larve of every kind in or upon them should be 
destroyed. Probably, solutions of paraffin, of carbolic 
acid, or of other insecticides, would be found beneficial, 
if the plants were watered with them. 
OTTILIS. A synonym’ of Leea. 
OURISIA (so called in honour of Governor Ouris, 
of the Falkland Islands, frem whom Commerson obtained 
the plant). Syn. Dichroma. ORD. Scrophularinee. A 
genus comprising about eighteen species of mostly low 
hardy perennial herbs, rarely woody at the base; six are 
natives of New Zealand or Tasmania, and the rest inhabit 
the Andes or Antarctic parts of South America. Flowers 
often scarlet or pink, whorled, racemed, corymbose, or 
solitary; scapes bracteate, one or many-flowered. Leaves 
chiefly radical, petioled, crenate or entire. O. coccinea is a 
very ornamental plant for growing in patches, and requires 
a moist and sweet soil, well drained. A position where it 
must endure exposure to hot sunshine is fatal to it. It 
is a slow surface creeper, and should be planted freely 
in frequented parts of the garden. Propagated readily, 
by divisions of the roots, in early spring. Similar culture 
will answer for the other species. The two species de- 
scribed here are the only ones seen in gardens. 
O. coccinea (scarlet).* fl. scarlet, with exserted, cream-coloured 
anthers, drooping, lin. long, in panicled clusters. May to 
