44 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 20, 1870. 



Professor Giebel, of Halle, with the object of ascertaining the 

 correctness of the popular notion that sparrows are destructive 

 birds, feeding chiefly on Grapes and stone fruit. He found on 

 examining the intestines of seventy-three young sparrows, 

 between the ISth of April and the 24th of June last, that forty- 

 six of them had fed exclusively on insects (beotles, caterpillars, 

 <&c), and seven only exclusively on 6tone fruit, the rest having 

 all mure or less fed on insects. An examination of forty-six 

 old sparrows gave similar results ; three only were fruit-eaters 

 and the rest chiefly insect-eaters. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The first meeting of the present year was held at Bnrlinpton Honse, 

 on the 3rd of January, the President, Mr. H. W. Bates, being in the 

 chair. The Secretary aunonnced that Messrs. Schiodte, of Copen- 

 hagen, and Von Siebold, of Munich, had been selected by the Council 

 to fill up the vacancies in the list of honorary foreign members. A 

 fifth part of the " Transactions " of the Society, published in 1869, 

 was upon the table. 



Mr. F. Bond exhibited specimens of the large Locnst, Acrydium 

 peregrinum, of which other examples had been previously exhibited ; 

 one specimen had been taken at Brighton, and as many as thirty in 

 the neighbourhood of Plymouth. It was remarked that this particular 

 species is not a native of Europe, but of the East, and hence the 

 singularity of so many individuals having found their way to this 

 country. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns exhibited a species of Aphodius 

 which had been voided by a Hottentot (proof of the filthy habits of 

 these people), and also an apparently undescribed species of Elater of 

 small size found floating in a cup of tea. 



Mr. Hewitson exhibited a magnificent collection of Butterflies, 

 captured by Mr. Buckley on the eastern slopes of the Andes, and in 

 the valley of the Napo, in Ecuador. Not fewer than 136 new species 

 were contained in the collection, although Mr. Buckley had only been 

 fourteen months absent from England. Mr. Buckley stated that a 

 few only of the species had been taken on both tides of the Andes. 



Professor Westwood exhibited a singular specimen of the Orange- 

 tip Butterfly (P. Cardamines), from the collection of Dr. Boisduval, 

 of Paris, in which the fore wings exhibited a mixture of the colours 

 and markings of both sexes. Mr. Quarritch, bookseller, exhibited a 

 specimen of what he miscalled a bookworm, which proved to be a 

 species of Lepisuia, and requested information as to its history and 

 the means for its destruction. Professor Westwood in reply stated 

 that the bookworm is the larva of Anobium striatum, and that a com- 

 mittee having been appointed to investigate its ravages, a report had 

 been recently published by the authorities at South Kensington giving 

 all the required particulars. 



Mr. A. Muller exhibited photographs of three specimens of Abax 

 parallelus in which the strhe of the elytra were distorted, also of a 

 Thanaeimus formicarius with the fascia? of the elytra confluent. 



The following memoirs were read : — 1, Descriptions of new British 

 species of May Flies, Ephemerida;, by the Rev. A. Eaton. 2, De- 

 scriptions of new Australian species of Lucanida?, by Professor West- 

 wood. 3, The Genera of Coleopterous Insects, treated chronologically, 

 in which the works of entomological writers from 1736 to 1810 were 

 reviewed with reference to the establishment of new genera of Beetles. 

 4, A Monograph on Catasarcus, an extensive genus of Weevils in- 

 habiting New Holland, of which a large number of new species had 

 been recently brought to this country by Mr. Du Bonlay, from Western 

 Australia. 



ACCLIMATATION OF FOREST TREES. 

 Considerable advance has been made of recent years in 

 France in introducing hardy foreign trees and shrubs suitable 

 to the climate ; and with a fair amount of success, many 

 natives of warmer climates being found to stand the winters 

 in the southern departments. The Eucalyptus globulus has 

 given the best results iu the department of the Var, where it 

 has resisted the malign influences of the mistral or north-west 

 wind. It is described as growing with ten times the rapidity 

 of the Oak, and being remarkably well adapted for the re- 

 clothing of denuded mountains. The Bamboos introduced at 

 Tours, Macon, and Angers, have prospered marvellously, and 

 have survived not only the last winter, but the much more 

 severe cold of the previous season. Several species of Bamboo 

 flourish even in the climate of Paris in the open air, where they 

 may be seen in the Gardens of the Acclimatation Soeietv in tho I 

 Bois de Boulogne, and in several private gardens. — (Nature.) 



the ripening of the leaves in' autumn. 3rd, Healthiness. 4th, 

 Cleanliness, characterised by a persistency of foliage during 

 summer, freedom from fading flowers, and exemption from the 

 attacks of insects. — (Horticulturist.) 



Shade Teees.— Some of the principal qualities that a tree 

 should possess to render it suitable for street planting are the 

 following : — 1st, A compact stateliness and symmetry of growth 

 as distinguished from a wide-spreading or pendent form. 2nd, 

 An ample supply of expansive foliage, of early spring verdure, 

 and rich and varied in the colours and tints assumed during 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



Dahlia mrERiALis (Imperial Dahlia). Nat. ord., Composi'ae. 

 Linn., Syngenesia Superflua. — This magnificent plant is a 

 native of Mexico. It is a shrub in size, from 12 to 18 feet 

 high. Flowers white, base of petals crimson. — (Bot. Mag., 

 t. 5813.) 



Jeedonia indica (Indian Jerdonia). Xa t. ord., Didymocarpea». 

 Linn., Didynamia Augiospermia. Native of the Neilgherry 

 Hills. — It is a small stove plant, with dark leaves regularly 

 stained with white; flowers pale, like lilac. — (Ibid., t. 5814.) 



Phal.bnopsis Paeishii (Rev. C. H. Parish's Phalfenopsis). 

 Nat. ord., Orchidacefe. Linn., Gjnandria Monandria. Native 

 of Burmah. — Flowers white, with purple-blotched lip. Very 

 small.— (Ibid., t. 5815.) 



Antigonon lepioptjs (Slender-stemmed Antigonon). Nat. 

 ord., Polygonaceae. Linn., Monadelphia Octandria. Native 

 of Mexico and West Indian Islands. — A slender stove climber, 

 rivalling Bougainvillea. Flowers crimson. — {Ibid., t. 5816.) 



Cuccmis angceia (West Indian Gherkin). Nat. ord., Cncnr- 

 bitacese. Linn., Moncecia Triandria. Probably a native of 

 Africa, though now cultivated in the West Indies. — Commonly 

 found in West Indian pickles. Flowers white ; fruit oval, 

 prickly.— (Ibid., t. 5817.) 



Kose Princess ChiUtian. — "This has been so frequently 

 before the public that we need do no more, in this place, than 

 describe the colour of the flowers, and the character of the 

 plant. The colour ranges from deep salmon to rosy peach, 

 according to the age of the blossoms, and holds on clear and 

 bright to the last. There is a peculiar and beautiful gloss on 

 the face of the petals which the pencil of the artist cannot por- 

 tray, and which gives it distinctness. The flowers are very 

 large, double enough, globular in the bud state, and finely 

 cupped when expanded ; and it gives forth these flowers con- 

 tinuously and abundantly from June to November. The growth 

 is robust, the constitution hardy, and the foliage and habit dis- 

 tinct and of a pleasing character. 



" This promises to be a good exhibition Rose when taken in 

 a young state, and a erand Rose for the garden at all times. 

 Mr. William Paul, of Waltham Cross, is the introducer of this 

 novelty, which, we learn, will be distributed from his nurseries 

 in May next. Three first-class certificates have been awarded 

 to the Princess Christian during the year 1869 — one by the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, one by the Royal Botanic Society, 

 and one at the Crystal Palace Rose Show.'' — (Florist and Pomo- 

 logut, 3 s., iii., 1.) 



FLUE HEAT. 



Is reference to heat by flues or pipes, the subject of late 

 articles in your Journal, I will venture a project of my own. 



I intend to construct a hot-air chamber (a brick-and-tile 

 oven), heated by a furnace beneath the chamber, with air-tight 

 furnace and ash-pit doors, save ventilating valves, to regulate 

 the slow combustion of coke, the fuel I shall use. My intention 

 is to conduct the he8t, or hot air, from the chamber or oven 

 through a vinery, like water, by piping perforated at distances 

 of 6 feet for the escape of heat into the vinery, so as to mingle 

 with and rarefy the air of the vinery, ventilated Blightly by 

 top lights, so as to keep up a gentle interior circulation of 

 warm air. My purpose, of course, is to procure heat by a con- 

 tinuous stream from the chamber or oven and slow-combustion 

 furnace (the smoke being carried off by its own chimney) 

 without smell or smoke, and to supersede water boilers and 

 pipes, which at beBt are troublesome. 



I may or may not succeed, but I shall try to conduct heat or 

 hot air on the hypoeaust principle, and perhaps some horti- 

 cultural engineer may, if practicable, adopt the suggestion. — 

 Reader. 



[For a small vinery we should be quite content with such a 

 chamber heated by a furnace, as you propose, acting on the 

 Polmaise system. We do not see how you are to supersede 

 " troublesome pipes," if you are to use pipes to conduct the 

 hot air from the chimney to the farther end of the house. We 

 are a little doubtful of the proposed plan of perforating these 

 pipes every 6 feet to let the heated air into the house. We 

 fear the heated air would escape at the first and second per- 



