1880.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



249 



the older known species, bnt may be distin 

 guished at sight l)y from one to five spots, form- 

 ing a broad W on the primaries. He calls it 

 Prodoxus decipiens. 



In the course of an article relating to it in the 

 June number of the American Entomologist he 

 remarks on a paper read before the American 

 Assoc'atian at Saratoga by the editor of this 

 magazine, and says " Mr. Meehan drew from his 

 facts the inference that because Pronuba did not 

 pollenize Yucca angustifolia, therefore it did aot 

 pollenize Yucca filamentosa." We are very 

 much surprised at this presentation of the case 

 by Prof. Riley. No one knows better than 

 the editor aforesaid that the Pronuba fertilizes 

 the Yucca filamentosa ; there is nothing what- 

 ever in the paper to warrant the charge that 

 he drew any such inference, and how Mr. Riley 

 derived that impression is incomprehensible. 



The London Gardener's Chronicle did not get 

 the same impression that Prof Riley did, as the 

 following paragraph shows : "A paper, by Mr. T. 

 Meehan, on Fertilization of Yucca, which was 

 read before the American Association for the 

 advancement of science at Saratoga, and subse- 

 quently appeared in the ' North American En- 

 tomologist,' has recently been issued in form of 

 a pamphlet. It contains a resume of the facts 

 that have been observed in reference to this sub- 

 ject, and Mr. Meehan states, as the result of his 

 investigation, that while Yucca filamentosa is 

 undoubtedly fertilized by the Yucca moth 

 (Pronuba yuccasella), Yucca angustifolia is not 

 visited by that insect at all, and yet produces 

 perfect seeds. It appears, however, necessary 

 that it should be fertilized artificially or by insect 

 aid." 



Literature, Travel* i Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



NOTES AND QUERIES-No. 15. 



BY JACQUES. 



Dr. Rosenthal counts, among twelve hundred 

 useful plants, three hundred and sixty species 

 which are fit for weaving, spinning, basket-mak- 

 ing, cordage, &c., species which are distributed 

 over the whole earth, and of which nearly every 

 country has some that may be cultivated with 

 profit 



Whenever we encounter decaying vegetable mat- 

 ter, we observe some form of fungi using up and 

 appropriating the changed substances of a former 

 condition to the generation of a new life, — a 

 change of condition. The absorbing roots of 

 these parasites grow into the tissues of the host 

 in the most intimate manner, deriving from a 

 disorganization of the substances the elements 

 necessary to their own being. 



Yes, there is a green rose. It is so ugly as to be 

 worth nothing except as a curiosity. It is a sport 

 from the Rosa Indica, originated in Charleston, 

 S. C, and disseminated from Baltimore. 



The Greeks were the great lovers of the rose. 

 Bion's lament for Adonis, translated by 

 Mrs. Browning, is unsurpassed, if perhaps, we 

 except the following, also from her pen: 



" If Zeus cliose as a king of the flowers in his mirth, 



We wou'd call to the rose, and would royally crown it; 

 For the rose, ho ! the rose, is the grace of the earth ; 

 Is the light of the plants that are growing around it." 



We may add here Mrs. Browning's inscrij)tion 



for a sun dial : 



"See the shadow on the dial. 

 In the lot of every one, 

 Marks the passing of the trial. 

 Proves the presence of the sun." 



Another inscription is good — " Tlie Night 

 Cometh." 



Small orange trees, Chinese or Japanese, are 

 beautiful ornaments for the table, in fact every- 

 where beautiful with their wealth of green and 

 golden fruit 



The Grizzly Frontignan Grape is, notwithstand- 

 ing its want of external beauty, so far as flavor 

 goes, probably the best hothouse grape. 



Mr. Bright, in his "Lancashire Garden," says the 

 Crocus is less cared for than it deserves. Modern 

 poets rarely mention it; but Homer, when be 

 would make a carpet for the gods, it is Lotus, 

 Hyacinth and Crocus, and Virgil's bees find 

 their honey among Cassia and Lime blossoms, 

 and iron-grey Hyacinths and glowing Crocus. 

 Virgil speaks, too, of the scent of the Crocus, and 

 Latin authors, when they wish to express a 

 bright deep orange color, call it the color of the 

 Crocus. 



