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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 9, 1866. 



be annually supplied, and that the natives weave plain silk goods from 

 it, called " pongees," of which about 100,000 pieces could be bought 

 annually. 



Mr. Stainton having exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Diamond, House 

 Flies infested with six and even eight specimens of Chelifer cancroides, 

 an inquiry was made by Mr. Staintou as to the object of this often- 

 observed kind of parasitism. 



Mr. Stevens also exhibited a sheet containing figures of all the 

 British species of Butterflies, beautifully executed by Mr. Mitchell. 



Mr. Stainton exhibited two species of Gelechia ; G. vicinella, reared 

 by Mr. Gregson, from larva; which feed upon Silene maritima, in the 

 Isle of Man ; and G. atrella, bred by Mr. Jeffrey from larva? feeding 

 on the pith in burrows in the lower parts of the stems of Hypericum, 

 at Saffron Walden, causing the upper shoots of the plant to droop. 

 Mr. Stainton also exhibited a series of small Moths received from 

 M. Milliere, of Lyons, including specimens of the long-lost Depressaria 

 rutana, which feeds on Hue, and a new species of Gelechia, allied to 

 G. costella, bred from Hyoseyanms albus at Cannes. 



Mr. Augustus Sheppard exhibited a variety of rare Lepidoptera 

 collected in the Isle of Man by Mr. Gregson, including a new species 

 of Gelechia and a new Phycis allied to P. dilutella. 



Mr. Ianson exhibited a small collection of Coleoptera and Hemip- 

 tera taken near George Town, Jamaica, by Mr. Gloyne. 



Mr. Haines sent for exhibition a curious variety of Melanippo nuc- 

 tuata found at Brierley Hill, Staffordshire. 



The Secretary exhibited drawings of the transformations of a new 

 Geometrideous Moth communicated by Mr. Schrader, of Shanghai, 

 found on Salix pentandia : the larva resembles the remains of a leaf 

 of which the soft parts have been eaten away. 



Mr. McLachlan corrected the nomenclature of one of bis new genera 

 of Trichoptera. 



A note was read by the Secretary on the ravages in the Cotton fields 

 of Louisiana, produced by the immense swarms of caterpillars of the 

 Heliothis armigera, commonly called the Army Worm. 



Mr. Moore read an extract from the " Journal of the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal, for 1866," respecting the rhythmical emission of light by 

 large swarms of Fire Flies. Mr. Grote had never witnessed this pheno- 

 menon in Bengal, but Mr. Theobald distinctly states that he had 

 noticed the synchronous emission of the luminosity by great quantities 

 of these insects in Pegu, which was also corroborated by Mr. Mont- 

 gomery, of the Survey department. 



A continuation of Mr. Wilson's notes on the Buprestidre of New 

 Holland was also read. 



Mr. Pascoe read the description of a new Longicorn Beetle from 

 Queensland, New Holland, allied to the genus Tmesisteraus, and made 

 some observations on the geographical distribution of this remarkable 

 group. 



Mr. Frederick Smith read " Notes on some Hymenopterous insects 

 collected by Mr. Peckolt at Cantagallo, South Brazil." Amongst these 

 insects was described for the first time the genuine female or queen of 

 the common South American Honey Bee belonging to the genus 

 Trigona. The collection also contained the interesting Dieloceras 

 Ellisii of Curtis, a Saw Fly which is social in all its stages, and an 

 Ant of the genus Cryptocerus, which is destructive to the nests of the 

 Trigona. 



Mr. Robert Trimen (the completion of whose work on the Butterflies 

 of South Africa was upon the table), communicated a memoir on the 

 Butterflies of the Island of Mauritius. 



The President announced that there would be no further meetings 

 of the Society at the rooms in Bedford Row, but that the future meet- 

 ings would, by permission, be held in the rooms of the Linnean 

 Society in Burlington House, Piccadilly, commencing on the 5th of 

 November next. There would be two meetings in November, January, 

 February, and March, but only one, as heretofore, in December, 

 April, May, June, and July, the meetings in August, September, and 

 October being intended to be discontinued. The library of the Society 

 would, however, remain at Bedford Row, where the librarian would 

 attend on Mondays as heretofore. 



and the terminal bud, which would lengthen into a shoot, will 

 be more prominent than any other. This bud we pinch hard, 

 or even cut it in two, but do not remove it. The check thus 

 caused throws the sap back towards the young fruit ; and from 

 the pinched bud, instead of one shoot, you will generally have 

 several, and these can be thinned out to one or two, and be 

 strong enough for all purposes.] 



PINCHING FIG TREE SHOOTS. 



In page 201 you recommend the pinching of Fig tree shoots 

 before they have made any leaves. Allow me to ask whether 

 you pinch the shoot so as to destroy it, and trust to embryo 

 wood-buds breaking lower down, or whether you only wound it 

 so as to prevent its breaking vigorously. I presume that Figs, 

 like Peaches, are all the better of leaves beyond them, and 

 that the plan of pinching the terminal shoots before they have 

 made leaves is suitable to out- door cultivation only, since 

 under glass, where a second crop is expected, the sooner the 

 leaves are formed the better, as it is in their axils that the 

 second crop is produced. — G. S. 



[When at page 201 we spoke of pinching the end of the 

 Shoot, not terminal shoot, before it had made its leaves, it was 

 chiefly in reference to out-door trees ; but the system is also 

 applicable to in-door trees, where constant-pinching is not 

 resorted to. In the spring, if yon look at such a shoot as we 

 referred to, some very small Figs will be showing at the joints, 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



CffiLOGYNE corrugata (Wrinkled-bulbed Ccelogyne). — Nat. 

 ord., Orchidacete. Linn., Gynandria Mouaudria. Native of Neil- 

 gherries. Flowers white, with yellow lip striped with orange. — 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 5601.) 



Cotyledon fascicularis (Glaucous-blue Cotyledon). — Nat. 

 on/., Crassulaceoe. Linn., Decandria Monogynia. Native of 

 South Africa. Tube of flowers yellow green, lobes green with 

 red margins. — {Ibid., t. 5602.) 



GLYr-TosTROBrjs pendulus (Pendulous Deciduous Cypress). — 

 Nat. ord., Conifers. Linn., Monceeia Polyandria. Native of 

 China. Has been confounded with Taxodium distichum. — 

 {Ibid., t. 5603.) 



Helipterum cotula (Cotula-flowered Everlasting). — Nat. 

 ord., Composite. Linn., Syngenesia superflua. Native of 

 Western Australia. Introduced by Mr. Thompson, Ipswich. 

 Flowers, some golden-coloured and others white. — {Ibid., 

 t. 5604.) 



Bolbophyllum, reticulatum (Netted-leaved Bolbophy llnm) . 

 — Nat. ord., OrchidaceaB. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. In- 

 troduced from Borneo by Messrs. Veitch. Leaves beautifully 

 reticulated. Flowers white striped with reddish purple. — 

 {Ibid., t. 5605.) 



Musschia Wollastoni (Mr. Wollaston's Musschia). — Nat. 

 ord., Campanulacea;. Linn., Pentandria Monogynia. Native 

 of Madeira. Flowers yellowish green. — {Ibid., t. 5606.) 

 Dipladenia amabilis. — {Floral Mai/., pi. 309.) 

 Clematises. — Rubella (purple), and Lanuginosa Candida 

 (white). Raised by Mr. Jackman, of Woking. — (Ibid., pi. 310-11.) 

 Rose. — Mrs. John Berners. This Hybrid Perpetual has very 

 compact, deep rose-coloured flowers. — (Ibid., pi. 312.) 



Dipladenia amabilis. — "The gorgeous stove climber was 

 raised by Mr. Henry Tuke, gardener to R. Nicholls, Esq., of 

 Bramley, near Leeds. A very fine specimen which was ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Tuke at the Bradford August Show last year 

 attracted a good deal of attention, and during the present year 

 Messrs. Backhouse & Son, of York, into whose hands the stock, 

 has passed, and Messrs. Veitch & Sons, of Chelsea, have ex- 

 hibited it in good condition at South Kensington, where it waa 

 rewarded by a first-class certificate. 



" It is with great pleasure that we publish a figure of so ad- 

 mirable a decorative plant, and one, too, which evinces the 

 skill of the hybridiser, for D. amabilis is a hybrid production. 

 It was obtained by Mr. Tuke as the result of a cross between 

 D. crassinoda and D. splendens. The plant partakes some- 

 what of the habit of D. crassinoda, but it is of stronger growth, 

 with larger foliage. The blossoms open of a pale blush pink, 

 and gradually change to rose, until they finally attain to a 

 richer and deeper hue than that of D. crassinoda. The lobes 

 of the corolla are more rounded in form than in that plant, and 

 the flowers, as will be seen from our illustration, are not only 

 of large size, but of a very showy character ; they are, more- 

 over, very freely produced. 



" The cultivators of stove climbers are under deep obligations 

 to Mr. Tuke for having originated so showy and free-blooming 

 a plant, which is without doubt a decided acquisition, even in 

 a family of which the species almost without exception occupy 

 a front rank amongst the choicest ornaments of our stoves. It 

 will require treatment similar to that given to the species 

 already in cultivation." — {Florist and Fomologiat, v. 209.) 



SEEDING OF CUCUMBERS. 

 Can any of your readers recommend the best plan of making 

 Cucumbers seed freely ? I have grown a quantity this year in 

 a Cucumber-house with the Cucumbers hanging from the roof, 

 and although I have an abundance of fine fruit, I have very 

 little seed. Some which are thick-topped have more seed in 

 them, but many long handsome fruit have none.— Curcuma. 



