424 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



r November 21, 1865. 



a large collection of Apples autl Pears, Coe's Golden Drop Plnms, a 

 Capsicum in a pot, bearing pods 6 or 7 inches long by 3 or more across 

 at the mdest, and a clnster of Pears, consisting of at least forty fmit. 

 Mr. Williams, Bentworth Hall, sent well-grown Shaddocks, Limes, and 

 Oranges, and some very tine Medlars came fi-om Mr. Hull, gardener to 

 J. Scott, Esq., Blackheath Park, and the same frnit was also shown of 

 good size by some others. There was also a dish or two of Quinces. 



Miscellaneous. — Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son contributed An- 

 thurium leueoneiu-um, Sphxrogyne latifolia, Cyperus papyrus, the 

 Sugar Cane, and various other plants with ornamental foliage. Mr. 

 Prestoa, Victoria Park ; Mr. Wheeler, gardener to J. Philpott, Esq.; Mr. 

 Rhodes, and Mr. Wilson, gardener to W. Marshall, Esq., Enfield, sent 

 various flowering and ornamental- foliaged plants ; and from the last- 

 named came also cut Orchids, intruding Cattleya labiata, Cypripedi- 

 nms Stonei, coneolor, and Fairrieannm, and Odontoglossum radiatum, 

 one of Messrs. Low's recent introductions. Messrs. Low exhibited 

 Calanthes, Lielia prsestans, small plants of the brilliant Sophronitis 

 grandiflora, &c. ; and Mr. Bull the economic plants sho\^•n at Kensing- 

 ton, and his new Aucubas, some of them in fruit. Mrs. Pollock and 

 other variegated-leaved Geraniums were shov.-n by one or two exhibi- 

 tors ; Ivies, and 63 dishes of different kinds of Potatoes, by Mr. Shii-ley 

 Hibberd; and a collection of Gourds, both ornamental and edible, 

 amounting, it was stated, to 1000 in number, by Mr. Young, gardener 

 to R. Barclay, Esq., among which were very large specimens of the 

 Potiron jaune. From Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, came 

 another large collection of Gourds, also one of Grapes ; from Messrs. 

 Cutbush, Highgate, Nuneham Park Onion, noticed at page 212 ; and 

 from Messrs. Barr & Sugden, and Carter & Co. oraaniental plant and 

 Fern cases, in some of which, from Messrs. Cai-ter, marble was used 

 ■with good effect for the bottom. Several beautiful bouquets were ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Howard, gardener to J. Brande, Esq. Tobacco tissue, 

 or Tobacco rolled into a thin sheet for fumigating -pur[)oses, was shown 

 by Messrs. Roberts and Sons, of Clerkenwell, and will, doubtless, prove 

 equally convenient with Tobacco paper, and more effective. Lastly, one 

 of Wells's poi-table ground vineries was shown, together with thirty-one 

 very good bunches of Black Hamburgh, the produce, less five, of the 

 Vine planted therein. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The November Meeting of the Society was held ou the 6th inst. ; 

 the President in the chiiir. The deaths of General Sir J. B. Hearsey 

 (a gentleman ivho in the midst of ;u'duous niilitaiy dnties had yet 

 found leisure to extend our knowledge of Inilian entomolog;)' and 

 botany), and Mr. Bouehard, who had gone to South America on an 

 entomological excursion, were announced by the President. 



Professor Westwood exhibited on behalf of Mr. S. Stone, a speci- 

 men of the Death's-head Moth, in which no rudiment of the right 

 antenna existed. The pupa-case was also shown, in which, however, 

 an antenna-case on that side of the body was present in a radimental 

 stafe. 



Mr. MacLachlan exhibited six bred specimens of Sterrha sacraria, 

 a rare Geometrideous Moth, all of which agreed in being much 

 darker than the usual state of the species ; they had been reared by 

 Mr. Helling, on Polygonum avicnlai-e ; also, a female specimen of the 

 Dragon Fly, Calepteryx splendens, the left fore-\ving of which was 

 coloured with steel blue as in the male ; whilst in the right fore-wing 

 only a few small patches of the same colour were scattered over the 

 surface, 



Mr. lanson exhibited Myrmedonia plicata, a new British Beetle, 

 found in the nest of Tapinoma erratica, a species of Ant, at Bourne- 

 month, in August last, by Mr. Smith. 



Mr. Crotch exhibited three species of Beetles new to this country, 

 .S^gialea rof a, Lithocharis maritima, and Monotama 4-foveolata ; and 

 3Mr. Stevens a collection of insects of the various orders found in 

 Damara Laud, South Africa, by Mr. Andersson. 



Mr. F. Bond exhibited a new British Moth, Acidalia maneuniata, 

 from the collection of Dr. Knaggs ; also, a series of highly magnified 

 photogi-aphic representations of minute parasitic insects, executed by 

 Dr. Maddox. 



Mr. Hewitson sent some leaves of Oak densely covered with the 

 gall, commonly called Oak spangles ; also, some notes on the Indian 

 variety of Chiysophanns phl.^as, resembling a variety of Chryso- 

 phanus virgaurijc, from Zerniatt, published in the last part ofthe 

 ** Annals " of the French Entomological Society ; also, descriptions of 

 a number of new exotic species of Butterflies, belonging to the family 

 Hesperiidfe. 



Mr-. Baly read descriptions of tivelve new exotic species of plant 

 Beetles, of the family Galeceiceda?. 



A paper was read by Captain J. Mitchell. Superintendent of the 

 Madras Museum, on the structure of the filament of silk as simn by 

 the common silk caterpillar, which has often been asserted (by Rymer 

 Jones, Dr. Cai-penter, &c.), to he composed of a double-twisted thread, 

 but which he had found to consist of two threads laid side by side 

 longitudinally, and fastened together by gnm. 



A note by Dr. Jordan was read on the acclimatisation of the com- 

 mon Pontia Kapte, in Noi-th America, during the last two or three 

 years ; it being now found plentifully for one hundred miles on each 

 side of the river St. Lawi-euee, and where there ai'e as many as three 

 broods in a year, not more than eighteen days occurring between the 



deposition of the egg and the arrival of the insect at the perfect state 

 in the middle of summer. 



Some notes were also read by the Eev. Douglas Timmins, on the 

 advantages of collecting the Lepidoptera of Europe, instead of re- 

 stricting collections to British species ; also, a paper by Mr. David 

 Sharp, on the British species of the Coleopterous genus Agathidium. 



GLEANINGS PROM ROCK AND FIELD 

 TOWARDS ROME.— No. 8. 



I FEEL thai it is time I quitted Koine, and yet I linger on ; 

 what I have said seems so little and poor, what I have left 

 nnsaid so rich and gi-eat. Chm'ohes, monasteries, palaces, 

 tmnoticed by me, rise in numberless pictures to my mind's 

 eye, in which the past and present are mingled together, and 

 they seem to take voice and ask, Why are we forgotten ? Now 

 I am in the Forum Eomanimi listening to the thrilling elo- 

 quence of Cicero ; or with wonder, open-mouthed, am watching 

 Ci-Esar's first and greatest triumph, when, followed by a count- 

 less host of soldiers, people, and captives — of whom, perchance, 

 a few poor Britons formed a part — he ascended the steps of 

 the Capitol on his knees, between forty elephants bearing 

 Ughts, while the common people were feasting at 22,000 tables 

 placed in the streets. And now I am standing beneath the 

 huge statue of Pompey, once red with the life blood of this 

 same Cassar ; the voices that once proclaimed him a demi-god 

 now raised in hoarse cries of " Perish the traitor to liberty!" 

 Or it is evening, and I am ascending the wide flight of steps in 

 the Piazza di Spagna, and entering the little church of La 

 Trinita de Monti, where, in the fading Ught of the setting sun, 

 the nuns of the Sacr(i CcEur sing sweet vesper hymns to the 

 Light of Light. Or I am in the Pantheon hanging a wreath 

 about Eaphael's tomb, and wandering from shrine to shrine, 

 now dedicated to the worship of Him who is God indeed, in- 

 stead of the many gods in whose lionoiu: the altars were raised ; 

 for this nobly-proportioned edifice was erected by Agiippa, 

 B.C. 27, and passed with but little alteration from a pagan 

 to a Christian temple in the year 608. 



That vision passes, and another takes its place. I am stand- 

 ing amidst the Cypress trees on the Monte Mario watching the 

 Easter fireworks, which convert the entire population of Borne 

 into a population of children, laughing, talking, and even 

 screaming with delight, as each fresh artistic representation 

 bursts into Ught, and the lower heavens glisten with a thousand 

 meteors sent there by man's hand. Again the scene changes, 

 and from the noise and bustle of the Eoman streets I pass to 

 the quiet studio of the great Christian painter Overbeck, and 

 listen with reverent attention as the old man, with gentle voice 

 and winning smile, gives his beautiful explanations of his yet 

 more beautiful pictures, both speaking of something better 

 and greater than the noisy world outside. My eyes ai-e dim as 

 I watch the painter sitting amongst his childi-en, the creations 

 of the intellect so soon to pass away to the Great Intelligence 

 from whence it came. 



Some one has said that " Ai'chitecture is like fi-ozen music." 

 Is it some thought akin to that that makes me never remem- 

 ber Overbeck without connecting him in some eort with the 

 beauty and fragrance of flowers ? The transition seems slight 

 that transports me from the quiet studio back to my weU-nigh 

 forgotten theme of flowers. I seem to he once more gazing on 

 the fair bouquets that aU winter long are to be seen in the 

 greatest profusion arranged on tables in the Via Condotti or 

 the Piazza di Spagna. AU day long the arranging of bouquets- 

 seems going on, and the flowers seem always fresh, the purple 

 Violets still sweet, the white CamelUas and Eoses stiU fair ; 

 yet very few people ever seemed to do more than admire their 

 beauty. T\Tiere the flowers came from was always a mystery 

 to me tiU I took the best means of solving a mystery, and. 

 asked for information, when I was answered, " There are no 

 nursery gardens as in England; but all these flowers come 

 from the gardens of the Eoman nobUity, the gai'deners sending 

 them early in the morning. 



The Eomans have at aU times been supposed to possess a 

 very limited flora, so I may be excused if my actual floral 

 gleanings in the Eternal City were small. Their principal 

 garden flowers now, as in days gone by, seem to be Violets and 

 Roses. They have now, as they had then, the Crocus, Nar- 

 cissus, Lily, Gladiolus, Iris, aud Poppy ; while flowers, and 

 plants, and cUmbing evergreens are still to he seen decorating 

 the flat roofs and the windows of the houses. It does not 

 appear that much alteration has taken place even in the laying 



