Jannan- 2, 1866 ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



involved. Kind-hearted employers there will always be, and 

 who must have people comfortable about them ; but there are 

 plenty of others who, provided they can obtain what they 

 want, will obtain that in the most economical manner, and 

 ▼ery regardless of the circumstances of those who contribute 

 to their comforts. We hare hopes in the ever-increasing 

 numbers of the truly beneficent as well as benevolent, but our 

 chief hopes are in the lessening of the number of those who 

 take to gardening as a trade or profession, and the more 

 thorojigh grounding of these in the practice and science of 

 their art. Meanwhile, we would wish to impress on intending 

 pupils, and the parents of these pupils, that future success 

 mnst be looked for in general through processes of self-denial. 

 — B. F.] 



MR. SYMONS' EECORD OF BRITISH 

 RMNFALL. 



It IB well known to all who take an interest in meteorological 

 matters, that Mr. S;\-mon3, of Camden Town, London, has for 

 some years pubUshed in a tabular form a statement of the rain- 

 faU, as furnished him by correspondents from all parts of the 

 kingdom ; nevertheless, there may be some who have not 

 hoard of such a record, and have yet kept a register of the 

 amount of rain which has fallen in their district. Should there 

 be any such, they wUl do a service to the pubUc by furnishing 

 Mr. Symous with the rainfall of the past year as soon as con- 

 venient. Mr. Symons has invited such contributions through 

 the London newspapers, and also thi-ough many provincial ones, 

 giving the names of those observers who have hitherto fur- 

 nished him with the desired information, and their respective 

 districts. 



Although the number of stations in the United Kingdom at 

 which the rainfall is observed is now upwards of one thousand, 

 yet there is still room for more, and Mr. Sjinons solicits an in- 

 crease. The mode of keeping such registers is much simplified, 

 as compared with what it was many years ago, and the e.\'pense 

 of the apparatus has been reduced, so that I believe a very good 

 rain-gauge can now be had for 10s. (id., and in some cases for 

 less than that. Mr. Symous' pamphlet gives some useful 

 information on important meteorological events, and tables 

 comparing the rainfall of one season with that of others are 

 made out in an intelligible form. One thing, however, he has 

 wisely retained from, and that is, making predictions as to the 

 weather. Some may, perhaps, ask, What then is the use of 

 meteorological observations, if they are not to enable us to form 

 some idea of coming events ? To such I may say, What is the 

 use of historical or chronological records of any kind, but to 

 transmit to posterity what the past has been ? Besides, records 

 of rainfall in di£ferent districts afford an interesting study on 

 the causes which contribute to such a result. Some districts 

 amongst the Cumberland hills are found to receive more than 

 six times as much rain as the general average of the kingdom, 

 and it is quite possible, and, in fact, very likely, that the 

 wettest point has not yet been favoured with a rain-gauge, or 

 its rainfall recorded. Now, however, that men of science are 

 turning their attention to the matter, I trust that these " out- 

 of-the-way places," will be duly represented. Mr. Symous also 

 invites those Uving near to others who already contribute re- 

 ports, to send their registry hkewise. Mr. Symons' address is 

 136, Camden Eoad, London, N., and printed forms for entry will 

 be supplied by him when necessai^. 



I imagine that when the returns of rainfall for the kingdom 

 are made out for this year, greater differences than usual will 

 be found between the returns of certain districts when compared 

 with others. On the whole, however, 1 think it will be admitted 

 that the season has been a fine one, and the miklness of the 

 autumn remarkable. Not many yards from where I now write, 

 Nasturtiums are in flower, and quite improtected ; certainly they 

 suffered a little from some frosts in the middle of November, 

 and the continued dull weather has deprived them of that 

 luxuriance which they exhibited in September and October ; 

 still they are green and fresh, and nothing in the garden is 

 more susceptible of frost. Geraniums which have not been 

 taken up arc fresh also ; but so they were up to the 17th of 

 December, ISGO ; and although we are now a few days past 

 the time when frost commenced in that memorable year, 

 I can hazard no opinion as to the likehhood in the present 

 winter of another such frost as that which occurred in 1860. 

 Leaving that to the weather prophets we must content our- 

 selves with recording the past, and although other phenomena 

 than the amount of rainfall may be registered by those who 



carry their researches further into meteorological matters, Mr. 

 Symons only requires the monthly ramfall and number of days 

 on which rain fell, and those who have the means of supplying 

 such information will be doubly rewarded by the knowledge 

 that they have contributed to a subject which is fast becom- 

 ing one of national importance, and one from which they as 

 well as others will reap the benefit. — J. Eoeson. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The December Meeting of this Society was held on the 4tli ult.— 

 the President, F. Pascoe, Ksq., F.L.S., &rc., in the chair. A very 

 interesting collectiou of insects made in British Bnxmah, by Lieut. 

 fieavan, was exhibited ; amongst which were many fine species of 

 Euphea, and some new Hesperiidae, also some rare and new Coleop- 

 tera, including a remarkable Tortoise Beetle of the genus Prioptera. 

 Another collection, chiefly of Butterfiics and Moths, in a very jjerfect 

 state of preservation, made in the ncifjhbourhood of Santa Martha, in 

 Venezuela, by the Inte Mr. Bouchard, was also exhibited by Mr. S. 

 Stevens. The excellent manner in which these specimens had been 

 captured and presei-ved caused additional regret at the untimely 

 decease of Mr. Bouchard. A mutilated specimen of the rare Goliathus 

 Drurii, Westwood, being the only insect saved by M. Du Chailln, in 

 his hasty retreat from the interior of Western Tropical Africa, and 

 brought home iu his waistcoat pocket, was also exhibited by Mr. 

 Stevens. 



Mr. Stainton exhibited some remarkably dark brown varieties of the 

 common Moth, Tinea cloacella, reared from larvre found feeding under 

 the bark of dead Birch trees" at Llangollen, by Mr. Gregson. 



Mr. F. Smith exhibited specimens of the Sawfly, Crnesus septen- 

 trionolis, which he had found in the larva state on the *JOth of August 

 last. They had spun up in theii- cocoons in four or five days, and 

 the perfect insects appeared a mouth later, thus vanning from the 

 ordinar}- habit of the family of lying unchanged within the cocoon, 

 during the whole of the winter. Mr. McLachlan, however, suggested 

 that it was possible that there were two broods in the year, as he had 

 taken the perfect insect at Loch Kannoch, in June. Mr. Smith also 

 exhibited some specimens of the "Bugong," a large greasy-bodied 

 species of Moth belonging to the genus Agrotis, which is eaten by the 

 aborigines of New Holland in considerable numbers, and which had 

 been forwarded by Mr. George Bennett, author of " Wanderings in 

 New South Wales," to Dr. Gray, of the British Museum. 



Some conversation took place as to the noises asserted to be made 

 by the Death Watch, Atropos pulsatorius, the general opinion being 

 that the common impression as to their origin was erroneous. 



Mr. McLachlan read a memoir on the varieties of Sten-ha saeraria, 

 recently reared in this countiy, with observations on the causes and 

 eiteut of the different variations to which the species of Lepidop- 

 terous insects in this country are subject. 



Professor Westwood read descriptions of some new species of Lon- 

 gicorn Beetles belonging to the genus Cantharocuemis, but forming 

 different sub-geuei"a, and for which he jiroposed a series of uniform 

 sub-generic names, in order to avoid the inconvenience resulting from 

 the modem system of division, in which almost every species was 

 raised to a distinct generic rank. 



The Rev. J. Greene exhibited specimens of the newly- descri.bed 

 British Moth, Acidalia maucuniata. 



Some further notes on the Buprestidie of New Holland, by Mr. C. A- 

 Wilson, of Adelaide, were also read ; likewise the description of a 

 new species of Papilio, from one of the small islands of the Pacific 

 Ocean, by Mr. G. Semper, of Altona. 



A fine series of drawings of the insects of North America, destructive 

 to the Cotton, Orange, Lime, Potato, (fee, intended for publication, 

 was exhibited by Mr. Moore, 



ToDMORDEX Botanical Societt, December 4th. — On the table 

 were the new and beautiful Pteris sen'ulata cristnta ; also Scolopen- 

 drium vulgare polycuspis angustum, and S. vulgare Malcomsoni, the 

 latter a splendid form, something like a gigantic cristatum, only that 

 the fronds are of normal length and width from base to apes. A com- 

 munication was read from Mr. T. Pritchard, of Erynyffynnon. North 

 Wales, announcing his discovery near that place of the rare Asplenium 

 trichomanes incisum triangulare (M), as well as several other rare 

 Ferns, small specimens of some of which were laid before the meeting. 

 Amongst them we observed a very beautiful form of the Lady Fern, 

 belonging to the plumosum group. 



HOUSE SEWAGE. 

 An answer to correspondents on the above subject in your 

 Journal of the 5th ult. rather surprised me. I have a cemented 

 cesspool into which the waterclosets and sinks of three houses 

 are drained ; within a couple of yards I have a simple filter 

 thus : — Two tar-barrels are sunk vertically in the ground, the 

 upper one having both ends removed, and the lower one having 

 a bottom pierced with holes ; a layer of cinders weighted with a 

 perforated elate, a draiu underneath to connect with the cess- 



