280 



THE GARDENER'S MONTH J. Y 



\^St-ptt'nil>cr, 



affecting; Poach leaves, which is Locythea piniii. 

 Lev., a species wliicli is noticed in Hardeners' 

 Chronicle, 18G4, under the name of Uredo 

 Ca.staiinei, M., hut which does not seem to have 

 been inserted in any list of British species. It 

 is probabh- of exotic oriirin, for we have speci- 

 mens from Port Louis, orathered by the late Mr. 

 Ayers, and from Italy by Passerini, under the 

 name of Uromyces prunorum, Fuckel. It was 

 also sent from Valparaiso hy Bridtj:es, and Mr. 

 Salwav jiathered it in Madeira. As rej^ards the 

 supposed funjrus on Pear leaves, sent us by Mr. 

 Sheppard, it is not a fungus but the work of a 

 minute Acarus, allied to that which is so destruc- 

 tive to Black Currants." 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Ants on Geranium Roots.— It is not often 

 that ants are found destructive to living plants, 

 but we have the following note fi-oni Mr. Lorin 

 Blodgett : 



" This Geranium-eating white ant is a great 

 pest. I send a stem of another plant I cut up 

 this morning, also the foot of the Pine stake, 

 which is also eaten through, in the regular fashion 

 of the white ants. This is the stake holding the 

 plant when bought (I do not recollect from whom) 

 in the pot. I have now lost four plants, this 

 last not being all eaten out but girdled at the 

 root and hollowed out on one of the branches 

 above. I hope to get your description of the 

 ant or animal, whatever the name or origin." 



These were submitted to Rev. Dr. Henry 

 McCook, of Philadelphia, our highest authority 

 on these questions, who has kindly responded in 

 the following letter : 



" The specimens from the plants of Mr. Blod- 

 gett are dead and very much decayed, but from 

 the most perfect one, I have no hesitation in 

 determining it to be not a new species, as you ' 



conjecture, but our common Termes Jfavipes. 

 This insect abounds everywhere in our vicinity. 

 Ihave traced them by myriads. Some time last 

 Winter I made a statement concerning these 

 insects liefore the Academy, and exhibited tlie 

 specimens of their work fiom my collection of 

 insect architecture. They were taken from the 

 fence of a gentleman in Delaware County. The 

 surface of the wood was literally riddled by the 

 termites. They love decayed wood, under which 

 they nest and on which they feed. They also 

 live under stones. They have not been of great 

 damage here as yet. but the possibility of such 

 an increase of the insects as to make them, as 

 Mr. Blodgett says, " a pest," is at least worth 

 thinking about. Mr. Hagen (Howard) has a fine 

 paper on them in, I think, the American Natu- 

 ralist, of about a year ago, or more. Dr. Leidy 

 has recently made some most interesting dis- 

 coveries of the parasite life within their abdo- 

 mens — a wonderful revelation. Termes Jiavipes 

 is not a true ant, but belongs to the Neuroptera.''^ 



Double Lilium Candidum. — W. N. M., 

 Oswego, X. Y., writes : " I trust you will ex- 

 cuse me for troubling you again, but it seems as 

 if I was having more than my share of curious 

 freaks of flowers. I send you by this mail a 

 double Lilium Candidum which has appeared in 

 my Candidum bed, containing about three hun- 

 dred plants. The plant is vigorous, and there are 

 ten double flowers on the spikes, giving it a de- 

 cided Tuberose appearance. This flower I send 

 is a fair sample. It leaves me in good form, and 

 is white ; I trust it will reach you perfect." 



[This is a very interesting freak. It is not 

 double in the usual sense of double flowers, but 

 a simple mass of Avhite leaves terminating the 

 stalk, the leaves scattered closely along about 

 one inch of stalk. And yet it shows how closely 

 leaves and flowers are allied in nature when leaves 

 can be made to look like white petals. — Ed.G.M.1_ 



Literature, Travels i Personal Notes. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Annual, Report of Fairmount Park, 

 Philadelphia.— There have been "reports" of 

 Fairmount Park before, but we believe none have 

 been issued for some time, at any rate none since 

 the Park began to assume the hopeful prospect 

 of a creditable reputation it has presented of late 



years. This immense tract of over 2000 acres- 

 is beautiful by nature, and for a long time there 

 was a prevalent impression that it needed no 

 art to make it a garden. It was thus wholly in 

 the hands of engineers whose whole efforts were 

 devoted to making roads, to levelling and filling 

 up, and a vast deal of other work which de- 

 stroj'ed rather than aided the beauties they were 



