i 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



with its brilliant blood-red flowers. 2. The Deep Green Forsythia, with its clear yellow 

 flowers. 3. The Crimson Currant (Eihes sanguinea). 4. The Gordon's Cnrrant {Riljes 

 GordonS)^ crimson and yellow. 5. The xVshberry (Afahonia aquifoKa^ evergreen), with its 

 bright yellow blossoms. 6. The Eose-colored Wiegola (TF. rosea), with delicate rose- 

 colored blossoms. We may add to these the Double-flowering Spirosa (>S. ^^Tunifolia fl. 

 ^;Z.), as it follows them closely; has small double flowers. These form a beautiful collection 

 for the early spring, all perfectly hardy and flourishing without any particular care or 

 treatment. The Malionia we must single out because it is not yet much planted, and is 

 very desirable. It is evergreen, bearing the winter well, the best substitute Ave have for 

 Ehododendrons ; then it blooms so early and so profusely ; it is low and spreading, and 

 makes a rich mass of foliage on the lawn. 



Black Wauts on Plum Trees, and the Insect "Membracis Bubalus." — Ks every thing relating 

 to this de^-truttive affection of our phim trees is important, I have taken the liberty to enclose 

 you a letter from Prof. Harris on the subject of the insect named, and also a twig punctured by 

 the insect, furnislied me by George Clarke, Esq., of Springfield, Otsego county. Mr. Clarke and 

 his gardener have observed the attacks of the insect, as he informs me, for several seasons; and 

 whenever he has left the twigs with the puncture upon them, the black warts have appeared the 

 second season after the attack ; but when lie has removed the puncture carefully which contains 

 the eggs, he says the limbs have not been affected. I give this, that examinations may be made, 

 as suggested by Prof Harris, in the hope that something may be elicited on the subject that maj' 

 be useful. 



Perliaps I should further state that Mr. Clarke is of opinion that the black color of the surface 

 of the warts is occasioned, as noted by Prof Harris, by the black fungi alluded to, but that the 

 first cause of this excrescence arises from tlie deposit made by the insect. By examining the twig 

 sent you, you will find the eggs deposited, as described by Prof H. B. P. Johnson, Albany, X. Y. 



B. P. Johnson, Esq. — Dear Sir : I have examined the punctured twigs and the insects which 

 you sent to me with much interest. The insects are tree-hoppers, and the scientific name of them 

 is Membracis bubalus, so called by Fabricil's, the first describer of this species. You will find 

 an account of the tree-hoppers, and au allusion to this species, in the second edition of mj^ Treatise, 

 p. 192. It is one of the kinds whose history has not hitherto been particularly investigated, and of 

 which it is stated in my work, that "the habits of some of the tree-hoppers are presumed to be 

 much the .same as those of the musical harvest flies; for they are found on the limbs of trees 

 where they deposit their eggs, only during the adult state, and probably pass the early period of 

 their existence under ground." 



This little tree-hopper, it appears by the specimens sent, punctures the twig of the cherry and 

 of the plum tree. This operation is performed by a piercer, which is lodged in a grove beneath 

 the tail of the insect. The puncture begins with a small longitudinal incision through the outer 

 bark of the twig, and is carried obliquely through the inner bark to the wood. In this wound 

 the insect deposits its eggs, pushing them beneath the bark on each side of the incision. Tlie eggs 

 are very minute, of a white color, and long oval shape, and strikingly resemble those of the 

 Cicada, except in being much smaller. The eggs appear to remain unhatched through tlie winter. 

 On being hatched in the spring, or in the early part of the summer, the young probably, like the 

 young of the Cicada, drop or descend to the ground, burrow beneath the surface, and live there 

 upon the sap of the roots of plants, which they imbibe by suction through their sucking tubes. 

 Like the Cicada, too, when they have come to their growth and are ready for their transforma- 

 tion to the winged form, they probably come forth from the ground, ascend the stem of some 

 cast their skins, and appear in the adult or perfect condition, in which they are pr 

 iuue their kind. 



