Deoamber 18, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICDIiTOEB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



489 



specimena of the Wingless Gall-fly, Cynips aptera, ordiuarily 

 bred from galls at the roots of the Oak, but which Mr. Masters 

 had. obtained from galls of the Deodar, being an interesting 

 instance of acquired diversity of habit. Mr. Smith stated that 

 he had also obtained it from Horse Chestnut root-L,'alls. Mr. 

 George W. Bh-d exhibited reared specimens of the rare Moth 

 Chilo gigantellas from Horning Fen, and Mr. Vaughan speci- 

 mens of Pempelia Davisella reared from the common Ulex in 

 the Isle of Wight. Mr. S. Stevens exhibited some rare Lepi- 

 dopteta recently captured on the south coast, including a singular 

 variety of Hipparchia Galathea, Leucania L-album, Cerastia 

 erythrocephala, Acontia Solaris, &c. 



A paper by 5Ir. J. P. Weales was read, entitled " Notes on the 

 habits of Papilio Merope, with a description of its larva and 

 papa;" also a paper entitled "Observations on Papilio Merope, 

 with an account of the various known forms of that Butterfly," 

 by Mr. Trimen. This is a swallow-taUed Butterfly common in 

 Africa and Madagascar; the females in the latter island re- 

 sembled the tailed males ; but on the African continent the 

 females are tail-less and quite unUke the males, as they also 

 differ from each other, having been described under several 

 names and regarded as several quite distinct species. Mr. Miakin 

 also sent some notes on Mynes Gueriniof Wallace, from Queens- 

 land, which he considered to be identical with the type species, 

 M. Geoffroyi. He also described the curious habits of the chry- 

 salids, which are suspended close together in little groups of 

 three or four individual': united at the tails. 



The December meeting of the Society was held on the lat of 

 the present month, N. T. Staiuton, Esq., being in the chair. 



Mr. Bond exhibited a hybrid specimen between Clostera cur- 

 tala and C. reclusa. Mr. Weir exhibited a number of specimens 

 of a minute Hymenopterous insect which he had observed in 

 the mouth of June last on a Pear leaf in his garden. They were 

 congregated together on the leaf like a swarm of bees, though 

 the object of their so congregating did not appear. 



Mr. Dunning read some portion of a letter which he h.ad re- 

 ceived from a Mr. Thomas Nottidge, enclosing the eighth annual 

 report of the Canterbury (New Zealand) Acclimatisation Society, 

 and stating that the Red Clover had been introduced into the 

 colony, bnt that they had no humble bees to fertilise the plant ; 

 also that certain Lepidopterous insects had been accidentally 

 imported into the island, but that the corresponding Ichneu- 

 mons were wanted to keep down their numbers. He would be 

 glad of any suggestions as to the best mode of introducing both 

 humble bees and Ichneumons into the colony as might be 

 requisite. 



Mr. Baly communicated a paper on the Phytophagous Coleo- 

 ptdra of Japan, being a continuation of the paper contained in 

 the Transactions of this Society for 1873, page G'J. 



Mr. Bates communicated a paper on the Longicorn Beetles 

 recently brought home by Mr. Thomas Belt from Chontales, 

 Nicaragua, being supplementary to that published in the Trans- 

 actions for 1872, page IG'i. The additional species amounted to 

 tliirty-seven, which, with those enumerated in the former paper, 

 brought up the total number to :iO'J. Mr. Bates remarked that 

 a work by Mr. Belt would shortly be published on Nicaragua, 

 which he thought would be of great interest to entomologists. 



A paper was communicated by Mr. W. H. Miskin, of (Jjueens- 

 land, containing strictures on a catalogue of the described species 

 of diurnal Lepidoptera of Austraha by Mr. George Masters, of 

 the Sydney Museum. Mr. Miskin made observations on the 

 synonymy adopted by Mr. Masters, showing that in his opinion 

 important errors e.xisted, and also that many species known to 

 inhabit Au.stralia, as well as other reputed species, were entirely 

 omitted in the catalogue. 



A fourth portion of the " Catalogue of British Insects," pub- 

 lished by the Society, was on the table. It contained the 

 Hymenoptera (Oxyura), compiled by Kev. T. A. Marshall, 

 liLA., F.L.S., ice. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 At a recent mooting of the Edinburgh Botanical Society the 

 Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens delivered an .address 

 OH THE cBANOE OF CLIM.^TF. north of the Tweed. It appears 

 that "Caledonia stern and wild" has witnessed much dimi- 

 nution of the summer heat during the last fifty years. From 

 this cause, fmits of the Plum tribe cannot bo ripened in the 

 open air to the same perfection as formerly, while Tomatoes, 

 Asparagus, and Mushrooms are gradually disappearing. The 

 Rock Rose and the common >[yrtle are now rarely seen, and 

 the iVlmonJ, which formerly flowered freely, will not set its 

 flower buds. The Larch, iu spite of vast quantities of seed 

 imported, is declining in vigour, and there is a talk of sub- 

 stituting for it the Wellingtonia as a nursery-tree. Forty 

 years ago tlio Esperan Grape, the Mulberry, and the Fig 

 ripened on the southern exposure in Edinburgh as well as 

 in London, kut now flue fires are an essential condition to 



their attaining maturity. With this modification of climate, 

 alterations have been noted iu the types of disease, but au- 

 thenticated data are lacking as to the extent to which this 

 has taken place. Mr. MoNab's proposal that a committee 

 should be appointed to investigate the whole subject of the 

 change of climate in Scotland, will, it is hoped, he carried iuto 

 effect. — [Eniilish Mechanic.) 



G.iRDENERs' Royal Benevolent Institution. — In the 



Times of the 5th inst. there is an announcement that the late 

 Mr. Andrew Bamett, of Macclesfield, has left to the Gardeners' 

 Benevolent Institution £1000, payable on the death of his 

 widow. The deceased gentleman was not a subscriber. — • 



EllW. R. CUTLEB. 



DBAYCOT, 



The Seat op Earl Cowley. 



Some four miles from Chippenham, a quiet old borough and 

 a market town greatly resorted to for cheese and cattle, is 

 Drayoot, which forms the subject of our present notice. Of 

 its history before the Conquest we can give no outline, but 

 from then to the present time it has always formed part of the 

 possessions of a family of importance. 



When Domesday Book was compiled the manor was held by 

 the warlike Bishop Geoffroy, of Coutauces, who, " by his 

 advice, prayers, and arms," aided William the Conqueror, 

 who in return gave him this and more than four hundred 

 other English manors. It passed to the family of Cerne, and 

 from them the village was distinguished from other villages of 

 the same name by being called Draycot Cerne. It was held by 

 them of the Crown by Petit Serjeantie, their service being 

 acting as marshal at the coronation. 



From the Cernes it passed, by marriage, to the Longs, of 

 WraxhaU. We will mention but few of this family. Sir 

 Walter Long, in the reign of James I., was the intimate 

 friend of Sir Walter Raleigh, and through him obtained 

 tobacco and introduced it into North Wiltshire. " In those 

 days," says Aubrey, the antiquarian, who, it is believed, was 

 buried at Draycot, " the gentry had silver pipes. The or- 

 dinary sort used a walnut-shell and a straw. I have heard 

 my grandfather Lyte say one pipe was handed from man to 

 man round the table. It was sold then for its weight iu sUver. 

 I have heard some of our old yeomen neighbours say that 

 when they went to Malmesbury or Chippenham they culled 

 their biggest shillings to put in the scale against the tobacco." 



In 1735 one of the Longs married the eldest daughter of 

 Child, Earl Tilney. The family then became known as the 

 Tiluey Longs, and the estates devolving to a female, Catherine 

 Tilney Long, she married, in 1812, William Wellesley Pole, 

 who changed his name to William Pole Tilney Long Wellesley, 

 from whom it passed to the present branch of the Wellesleys, 

 Earl Cowley. 



The mansion, of which the accompanying illustration gives 

 a faithful view of the east front, is of Bath stone; part of it is 

 three hundred years old, but the rest is more modern, a portion 

 having been added a hundred years ago, and some of it is of 

 quite recent date. Nestled close beside it is the church, dating 

 from the beginning of the thirteenth century, and in which is 

 the tomb of the founder. Sir Edward Cerne, besides other 

 interesting memorials of the past, including many of the 

 Long family, whose descendants have held tlie estates about 

 four hundred years, and one of whom, in tlie CivU War, 

 raised a regiment of horse in support of the royal cause. 



Standing on the terrace at the cast front, with the church 

 on our right, the graceful sweep of the approach road is sin- 

 gularly pleasing, and iu approaching the mansion there is 

 nothing to distract the eye from the building and the green 

 turf save two circular beds of Rhododendrons, a remarkably 

 fine Larch and Alder, and large Beech trees. The south front 

 overlooks a lake crossed by a bridge, and the west a small 

 flower garden of simple desii'u in two panels sunk iu grass, 

 each having a largo raised circular bed for its centre, sur- 

 rounded by four corner beds of less size, with their inner 

 sides curved so as to corresjiond with the circumference of the 

 circle. This flower garden, however, is of very limited extent 

 compared to the importance of the mansion, and we believe it 

 is intended ultimately to extend it by clearing away to the 

 level the terrace which forms its western boundary, and which 

 at present is studded with standard Rhododendrons and Por- 

 tugal Laurels. Passing round the house to the north, on that 

 side we find a noble Cedar of Lebanon, 100 foot or more high, 

 but, unlike the grand trees at Stratfieldsaye, not forming a 



