Juua 23. la70 ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



489 



others of the family, nor nearly eo much as it ought to be. 

 0. exsoapum is one of the least of the family, but should not he 

 passed by on thit aooount. 0. pyrenaioum with it3 greenish- 

 yellow floivorj is one of the tailor-growing kinls, and well 

 deserves a pUco in the herbaceous border. O. comosura is a 

 dwarf summer-blooming species, and should b3 much more 

 Eonght after thm it ii. 0. nutans with its large drooping 

 flowers is one of the best ; it flowers in early summer. There 

 are othera of thia interesting but neglected family of border 

 flowers that are capable of doing us gojd service in many ways 

 and places. They are adapted for pots and borders, and being 

 quite hwJy require but little care. — Veritas. 



CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS. 



No. 9. 

 At this season of the year many of the species of the Hemi- 

 pteious order, which is next before us to oonsider, are in a state 

 of full activity. Some species very prolitio in individual mem- 

 bers are not much known or noticed owing to their retired, 

 or perhaps sedentary habits, yet they are quite capable of pro- 

 ducing perceptible damage on vegetation. To parody the line 

 of a poet, we might say they " do harm by stealth, and blush 

 to find it blame." At least, if they do not blush they have a 

 way quite as satisfactory to themselves of letting their feelings 

 be known. In fact, numerous species of the Hemiptera have 

 a knack of discharging a defensive, and occasionally offensive 

 fluid, when they are roughly handled, or even simply touched. 

 A very familiar species is just now covering hedges and scat- 

 ter.^d shrubs with its slimy exudation, venturing at times also 

 to display itself OQ the lower branches of stately trees. This 

 is the Cookoo-spit (eras a friend puts it, " Cackoo-spite "J, 

 scientifically called Aphrophora spumaria, the salivary aspect 

 of which disgusts parsons who are unconscious that it is 

 simply the sap of the plant, into which the creature in- 

 geniously works air-bubbles for its defence. This is possibly 

 the best known of all the Hemipterous race, at least in so far 

 as its outer surroundings, saving and excepting an unsavoury 

 insect, the name of which is not breathel in polite society, and 

 against which good housewives take various and frequently 

 ineffective precautions during the summer season. It has 

 afforded much matter for speculation to a certain class of 

 natural philosophers, one of whom assures that this disturber 

 of nightly repose was undoubtedly created long after man, for 

 it does not attick him in a solitary and savage state, but 

 haunts him in cities and communities. It is probable that 

 the primitive nutriment of Cimex lectularius was the juices of 

 wood, and its resort to blood arose from a freak in the first 

 instance. From its occurrence in profusion now and then in 

 circumstances where it can have had no chance of attacking 

 either man or animals, it must be assumed that the species is 

 not obliged to be a blood-sucker. 



Btit the mention of this unloved domestic insect is appro- 

 priate, because it has passed into a designation for the majority 

 of the species of the Hemipts-rous order that are of any size. 

 These are popularly called " bugs," and the more diminutive 

 species "lice." Incorrectly, we might say, on philological 

 grounds, for the old Anglo-Saxon word "bug" meant an 

 object of terror; hrnoe we read in one early English version 

 this rendering of a passage in the Psalms, " Thou shall not be 

 afraid of any bugs by night ;" and on its introduction here this 

 Hemipterou was called a bug, not, as it has been too hastily 

 assumed, because people were afraid of it, but because the 

 bites were imagined to be symptomatic of some virulent dis- 

 order. B J that as it may, it is in vain now to seek for another 

 Eoglish name for the order, and in one sense 'tis true enough 

 it contains many insects which cause apprehension to the 

 horticulturist from their united action, no matter whether we 

 call them bugs, lice, or some other name. Direct enemies to 

 man are few in the order, but it includes a host of formidable 

 peats to his garden. Several of the aquatic species of Hemi- 

 ptera are predacious, and ferocious enough to their kindred as 

 well as to strangers of the insect race ; yet nearly all the land 

 species are pacific, one might almost say amiable in dis- 

 position. No order, I think, save perhaps the Lepidoptera, 

 has so few insects in it that are friendly to the horticulturist 

 by reason of their labours helping to keep under destructive 

 species ; and the only division affording an article of com- 

 mercial value is that section of the genus Coccus which in 

 tropical or subtropical climates yield the varieties of cochineal 

 and lac. 



Now, if we take as representatives of this order two sizeable 



insects, such as the adult Cuckoo-spit or Frog-hopper (A. spu- 

 maria) and the common grey bug found on shrubs and low 

 plants called Pentatoma grisea, without the aid of a msgnifif r 

 we at oncn perceive that these are sucking insects, the mouth 

 bting in the form of a beak, which in repose is generally turned 

 down on the breast. The closer examination we can make by 

 a hand-glass shows this beak consists of an upper and lower 

 portion, the upper lip, which is tho actual implement, resting 

 in the lower lip as in n sheath ; and four bristly or thread-like 

 appendages, which in some species can pierce like lancets, 

 represent the mandibles found in other orders. The wings are 

 four, rather leathery in texture, and more or less roof-like when 

 folded. In the history of the transformations it is especially 

 to be noted that the larva is in many species exceedingly like 

 the perfect insect, exceptir.g of course the possession of wings. 

 The pupa is generally able to travel about and take care of 

 itself. Amongst certain groups, as in the aphis tribe, there is 

 little distinction observable between the three stages of develop- 

 ment, the similarity being increased by the occurrence of wing- 

 less females and the non-appearance of males through a great 

 part of the summer. Though wishing to avoid abstrnseness, 

 I must briefly state that the order Hemiptera is divided into 

 two large sections, occasionally referred to as distinct orders. 

 Following the natural arrangement I take first the 6ub order 

 which comes next to the flies, and discuss the Heteropterous 

 bugs. Two circumstances immediately indicate the propriety 

 of the separation of these sub-orders ; for the Hetoroptera, we 

 see, have invariably the wings dissimilar, the hind wings are 

 clear and transparent, the fore wings have half thickened and 

 half membranous, as is well seen in the genus Pentatoma 

 already referred to. The second distinction is, that in this 

 sub-order tho beak or proboscis is attached to the fore part of 

 the head. Some of the land species have long antenna ; in the 

 aquatic species they are mostly short and cearly hidden. A 

 curious adornment observable in many of the species haunting 

 plants is in the form of a scutellum or shield, which sometimes 

 nearly covers the whole of the abdomen, and we must again 

 break up the Heteroptera into two groups ; the Hydrocorisa, 

 with legs adapted for rowing, and resident in the water of ponds 

 and streams. Here are classed objects familiar to us in the 

 fresh-water aquarium — the ravenous water scorpion (Nepa 

 cinerea) looking like a brown decaying leaf; the excessively 

 slim Rauatra linearis, which appears as if it could require 

 scarcely any nutriment, but is a determined killer of small 

 aquatic creatures ; and the active water boatmen, which might 

 have suggested to primitive man the construction of oars, be- 

 longing to the genus Notonecta, all being predatory. A funny 

 little creature, too, is Ploa minutissima, with a broad back and 

 short legs, yet able to swim capitally. 



Hurrying on to the bugs which are chiefly represented in 

 our gardens, classed under the head of Aurocorisa, we can 

 specify nine families, several containing a variety of tpscies 

 which feed on the juices of plants, yet none that can bo said to 

 have a seriously prejudicial influence. Two families are aquatic 

 or semi-aquatic, about which little need be said. The Acan- 

 thiidffi are small globular fellows, generally found on the muddy 

 banks of streams, and with the faculty of hoppiog, thoueh able 

 also to fly. Very different are the Hydrometridoe or Water- 

 m?asurers, remarkable for the celerity with which they glide 

 over the surface of stagnant water in puisuit of their prey. 

 They are not endued with skates certainly, but the form of tha 

 body (long and slight), the slim angular legs, and the muscular 

 force in limited compass, admirably suits their mode of life. 

 Hydrometra stagnorum is a common species, almost thread- 

 like, with eyes which seem to start from tho head. In the third 

 family (the Keduviidje) are some singular insects, one or two 

 genera with undeveloped wings, all having the back of the head 

 narrowed, and exhibit a stout curved beak, with which they 

 will occasionally wound the human skin if grasped. Few visit 

 gardens, but one species (Reduvins personatue, not very abun- 

 dant) is fond of haunting places frequerited by mankind, where 

 it is supposed to prey upon smaller insects, by report having a 

 particular penchant for Cimex lectularius. To enable it to 

 make a close approach to winged insects without alarming 

 them it masks itself in particles of dust and wool, assuming 

 also a peculiar gait, which De Gear thus described : — " It walks 

 as fast when it likes as other bugs, but usually its gait is slow ; 

 after having taken one step forward it stops awhile and then 

 takes another, leaving at each movement the opposite leg in 

 repose ; it goes on so continually, step after step in succession, 

 which gives it the appearance of walking as if by jerks. With 

 the antenna? it makes almost the same sort of movement in 



