204 



Journal of horticultuee and cottage gardener. 



I March 6, 1878. 



reticulatoj bauds, and the disk is much larger and of a glossy 

 black coloiu-. There are many varieties of this remarkable 

 species ; and no doubt others will flower during the coming 

 summer."— (/'Vori's J and Pomolocjist, 3 series, vol. vi., p. 25.) 



NEW BOOK. 



Handbook of Hardy Trees, Shnih.-<, and Herbaceous Plants ; 

 containing Descriptions, Native Countries, &c.,of a selection 

 of the best Species in Cultivation, together with Cultural 

 Details, Comparative Hardiness, Suitability for Different 

 Situations, ifcc. Based on the French work of Messrs. De- 

 caisne & Naudin (Members of the Institute of France), 

 entitled " Manuel de I'Amateur des Jardins," and including 

 the original Woodcuts by Eiocreux & Leblanc. By W. B. 

 Hemsley, formerly Assistant at the Herbarium of the Koyal 

 Gardens, Kew. London : Longman & Co. 

 This very full and not very grammatical title page renders 

 any further epitome of the contents unnecessary, but we may 

 add, that this useful book is rendered more useful by a glossary 

 of terms and a copious alphabetical index. The genera are 

 arranged in the body of the volume according to the natural 

 system. The descriptions are sufficient to enable the cul- 

 tivator to identify each species, and in a large number of 

 instances the descriptions are aided by good woodcuts. The 

 concluding part of the volume is entitled " Practical Garden- 

 ing," and is its weakest part, for in endeavouring to include a 

 multitude of subjects within a few pages, it does not give the 

 full information on any one which the amateur needs. Vege- 

 table physiology, climate, soUs, classification of plants accord- 

 ing to size and colour, and ornamental gardening are aU in- 

 cluded, but only twenty-six pages are devoted to that which 

 the amateur most needs, " cultural directions." It would 

 have been a far more highly-prized work, would have com- 

 manded a wider circulation, if separate directions for cul- 

 ture had been appended to each genus. We are aware that 

 this would involve slight repetitions, but references to other 

 genera requiring similar treatment where the culture was de- 

 tailed would avoid much tautology, and the space would be 

 well spent in securing to the amateur, what he loves to have, 

 specially appUed directions. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETINGS. 



The Anniversary Meeting of this Society was held on the 

 26th of .January at Burlington House, Piccadilly, for the election 

 of Council and officers for the ensuing year. Professor West- 

 wood was re-elected President, Mr. McLachlan, Treasurer, Messrs. 

 Grut and Verrall, Secretaries, and Mr. lanson, Librarian. A very 

 satisfactory statement of the Society's finances and proceedings 

 was read ; and the President delivered an address, giving an 

 elaborate account of the progress of the science during the past 

 year, in which he especially dwelt upon the necessity for inves- 

 tigating the fossil Arthropoda, with a view to their positions in 

 the general system of the animal kingdom, as well as the higher 

 branches of the science, such as the embryology, development, 

 metamorphoses, physiology, and economy of insects. A cordial 

 vote of thanks was given to the President for his address, which 

 was requested to be published. The following gentlemen were 

 nominated to act as Vice-Presidents — namely, Messrs. A. W. 

 Bates, S. S. Saunders, and Stainton. 



The first February Meeting was held on the 3rd of that month, 

 Henry W. Bates, Esq., Vice-President, in the chair. Mr. F. 

 Smith exhibited a collection of Hymenopterous insects collected 

 about eighty mUes from Calcutta, containing a fine new species 

 of Astata and several species of Nomia. There was, however, 

 no new genus in the collection. Mr. McLachlan exhibited some 

 srnaU quadrangular cases found in the river Dove, in Derbyshire, 

 formed by the larvie of a species of Caddice Fly, which he had 

 supposed might belong to the genus Coenis, but which Mr. 

 Eaton thought could not belong to that group, as he had not 

 found it in the neighbourhood where the cases were met with. 

 Mr. Champion exhibited a large species of Pulex taken in a 

 mouse's nest in the island of Sheppey. Mr. Meldola exhibited 

 a living specimen of a Myriapod belonging to the genus Spira- 

 bolus sent to him from San Francisco, also specimens of the 

 large and curious eggs of one of the leaf insects (Phyllum pul- 

 chrifoUum) from Java. A specimen was exhibited of a Moth 

 belonging to the family Noctuidae, which was found impaled 

 upon a thorn, most probably by a strike. Mr. A. Miiller made 

 some remarks upon some pouch-like galls found on the leaves 

 of Cinnamon plants in Bombay. The Rev. Mr. Eaton read a 

 paper " on the HydroptiUdse, a famOy of Trichoptera " (Caddice 

 Fhes). He also exhibited a Mite of the genus Trombidium from 

 Spitzbergen. Mr. A. G. Butler communicated a monograph of 

 the genus Gasteracantha, a remarkable exotic group of Spiders 



with hard horny coverings to their bodies, armed with singular 

 spines, often much longer than the whole body. 



The second February Meeting was held on the 17th ult., the 

 President being in the chair. Dr. Herman Burmeister, the dis- 

 tinguished entomologist, and now Director of the Museum of 

 Buenos Ayres, was elected a member of the Society. A new 

 part of Mr. Hewitson's beautiful work on the Lycsenidie, and 

 several memoirs on the Ichneumonidre of Finland, by H. Wold- 

 stedt, were presented to the Society. Mr. Bond exhibited a long 

 series of bred specimens of the two closely allied species ^E rony eta 

 Psi and tridens, pointing out some distinctions between them 

 in the perfect state. The larvie of the latter had been fed on 

 Pear leaves, those of the former fed on different plants. Of the 

 former species he had obtained no dark-coloured specimens such 

 as occurred in JE. tridens. Mr. A. Miiller exhibited some cases 

 formed of short bits of sticks cut of equal length and arranged 

 spirally, being probably made by the caterpillars of a species of 

 Psyche; also the egg-case of a species of Montidre. The Presi- 

 dent exhibited some white cylindrical dipterous larvae, nearly 

 half an inch long, which had been discharged by a patient in a 

 clot of phlegm. He had referred them to the smaU fly Psila 

 Rosa% the grubs of which are found in Carrots, and he' subse- 

 quently found that that vegetable had been eaten by the patient. 

 He also exhibited drawings of a bulb infested with three large 

 grubs, which he had no doubt would prove to be those of Me- 

 rodon clavipes ; likewise drawings of the large excrescences 

 upon Vines and the Coleopterous larvie found therein, recently 

 descrilied in our pages ; also drawings of the roots of Vines 

 asserted to have been destroyed by PhyUoxera. Mr. Miiller 

 stated that Mr. Riley had discovered that galls upon the roots 

 of a species of Vine in North America had been formed by a 

 weevil of the genus Baridius. Mr. Briggs exhibited two series 

 of specimens of the common moth Anaitis plagiata taken at the 

 same place in June in different years, the one being of the 

 ordinary summer, and the other of the later autumnal form. 



Mr. H. W. Bates read a memoir on the predaceous beetles of 

 Japan collected by Mr. Lewis, by whom an extensive series of 

 insects had been formed in that countrj', the descriptions of the 

 various famiUes of which have been xmdertaken by different 

 entomologists. Two hundred and forty-one species of these 

 predaceous beetles were described, of which 118 were quite new. 

 They belonged to eighty-four genera, the geographical distribu- 

 tion of which offered some interesting particulars. Nine genera 

 only (including the singular Damaster), were peculiar to Japan. 

 Of the ninety-six genera of these insects occurring in western 

 Europe forty-four occurred also in Japan, whilst fifty-two were 

 unknown in Japan, and thirty-eight of the Japanese genera were 

 unknown in western Europe. The aculeated Hymenoptera con- 

 tained in Mr. Lewis's collection formed the subjects of another 

 paper by Mr. F. Smith, in which seventy-three species were 

 described, of which forty-nine were new. Twenty-four of them 

 were also found in .Japan and China, three only in Eirrope, and 

 two in North America. Amongst the bees were specimens of 

 the species of honey bee which Mr. Smith had previ'nisly 

 named Apis nigro-fasciata, which had not been acknowledged 

 as a distinct species by Gerstaecker, but which Mr. Smith felt 

 convinced was quite distinct. Mr. A. Miiller contributed a series 

 of bibliographical notices of entomological papers published 

 previously to 1862, omitted in Dr. Hagen's work. 



Mr. F. Smith communicated a notice of the recent researches 

 of Drs. Von Schneider and Von Siebold on artificial honey ob- 

 tained by feeding bees exclusively with malt. The question 

 had been raised whether the substance thus obtained was real 

 honey, and whether, consequently, the bee was able to change 

 malt sugar into honey in its stomach. Dr. Von Schneider having 

 taken up the physiologico-chemical portion of the question, 

 arrived at the conclusion that the carbo-hydrates, sucrose and 

 dextrose, contained in the malt are actually changed by the bee 

 into honey-sugar, and that the malt-honey differs only from 

 ordinary honey in wanting the specific aroma given to the latter 

 by the flowers on which the bees had been gathering. The 

 observation is one of much interest to bee-keepers, as the malt 

 nutriment given to the bees serves for their support as well as 

 for the production of the honey. With regard to the wax. Dr. 

 Von Schneider is of opinion that it is undoubtedly a secretion 

 of the honey bee formed chiefly at the expense of different kinds 

 of sugar, with which, however, a supply of nitrogen was neces- 

 sary. After these results had been obtained. Professor Von 

 Siebold made a special investigation of the secreting organs of 

 the bee, and discovered three entirely distinct and very com- 

 plicated systems of salivary glands, two of which are situated in 

 the head, an I the third in the anterior part of the thorax, which 

 bad liceu erroneously regarded by Fischer as a lung. Each of 

 tbeni has separate excretory ducts, and is distinguished by a 

 specifically different form of the vesicles secreting the saliva. 

 The minute details of these structures are represented in a plate 

 accompanying Von Siebold's memoir in the " Bienenzeitung," 

 No. 2:i, 1872. These organs are, however, found only in the 

 workers ; the queen possessing only a rudiment of the lower 

 system in the head in the form of the two orifices of the ducts. 



