20-2 



JOrjUNAL OF HORTItJDLIUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENBR. 



( Ai)iU n. 1874. 



some seasons than in others ; and having completed its cocoon, 

 which is put on the ground, and made very sHghtly of a few 

 threads of eillc mingled with fragments of leaves, it there 

 assumes the chrysalis state, and waits for the approach of 

 spring. A good many, it is likely, die in that stage when 

 the weather is damp, but the survivors come out in May or 

 June. 



The moths known to entomologists aa the Glearwings form 

 a very singular family. Some species, such as the Currant 

 Clearwiug (already figured in these pages), and the lled-belted 

 Clearwing, are too well known to the horticulturist by the 

 mischief done by the larva to the Currant, Pear, and Apple. 

 Differing in size as do these insects, the same circumstance 

 belongs to the external appearance of all — namely, that they 

 resemble other insects, chiefly of the order Hymenoptera. 

 Whether this mimicry is designed for the protection of the 

 species from the attacks of birds and other foes is a question, 

 and various explanations may be devised to account for mimicry 

 in this and similar instances. However, these insects not only 

 resemble hornets, bees, and flies in appearance, but also in 

 habit, being invariably on the wing in the bright sunshine, 

 and when i-esting on the leaves and stems of plants they move 

 about with an elegance and quickness unusual among the 

 Lepidopterous insects. The two Hornet Glearwings (S. Bem- 

 beciformis and Apiformis), it reposing on tree trunks will 

 move the abdomen up and down quite in the manner of a wasp 

 or hornet, as pointed out by Mr. Wood. The latter (/iri. 4), is 

 perhaps the commoner visitant to gardens, appearing there in 

 .June ; and should one of them be caught by the hand, the soft 

 feel of the moth plumage at once distinguishes it from the hard- 

 cased hornet. But probably it is the wiser thing not to seize 

 one in this way lest a Tartar be caught — i.e., a hornet by mis- 

 take, though the virulence of the sting of the latter insect has 

 been much exaggerated. These Glearwings have an artful 

 trick of suddenly dropping and not flying up should a net ap- 

 proach them when they are settled, so the best plan to take 

 them is to strike from below. The wings in this species expand 

 nearly 1,% inch, being transparent like those of beee, only having 

 an edging of brown ; the thorax is also brown, with two bright 

 patches of yellow ; the head and body are of that colour, only 

 the latter has also two brown belts ; the legs are reddish. 

 Though the caterpillar is an internal feeder, this moth can 

 scarcely be said to be an injurious species, the numbers not 

 being large, and the eaterpUlar affecting the Aspen and Poplar, 

 but rarely or never killing the trees unless ihey are previously 

 in an unhealthy state. This pale, rather grub-like larva is 

 also rather different from those of the Lepidoptera we best know, 

 but they have the usual array of legs, though not very visible, 

 and also small hooka on the segments, by which they wiiggle 

 themselves up and down the galleries they have mined. Many 

 an entomologist is working away just now, cutting the stumps 

 of the Willow, Poplar, and Alder, for this and the allied species 

 are uov/ to be found in the chrysalis state awaiting emergence ; 

 and not unfrequently the searcher is disappointed through the 

 fancy some of the caterpillars have for leaving their wooden 

 abode and spinning a cocoon on the ground some distance off. 



To the Lilac, on the verge of coming into blossom this spring 

 month, has been given the honour of providing half the name 

 of one of the most beautiful of British moths, though but of 

 moderate size. This insect is a garden species in all its stages, 

 and through May and June the larva is to be found feeding 

 on the Elder, Privet, and especially the Lilac ; or it may begin 

 to feed at an earUer date, as it lives through the winter. The 

 Lilac Beauty (I'ericaUia syringaria), displays a variety of tints 

 which cannot well be explained in words, nor would an un- 

 coloured figure be of much help to one who has never seen it. 

 Suilice it to say, that the general colour of the wings is a pearly 

 grey, clouded over here and there with red and yellow, whOe 

 on the ground there are arranged various patches and lines of 

 v/hite, yellow, and brown. The head and thorax are brown, 

 and the antenn;E feathered. On the wing in July, the moth 

 seems as if it were affected by the heat of the season, for it 

 keeps very quiet during the day, and hence often escapes from 

 the eager insect-hunter seeking such prizes, and at nipht it 

 takes no heed of the sugary bait that beguiles some. Should 

 the horticulturist find amongst " the common herd " 'the cater- 

 pillar of the Lilac Beauty, he might know it from the rest by 

 its peculiar aspect. The body, which is grey or tinged with 

 rose colour, has six warts or processes on the back placed in 

 twos, the last pair being larger than the rest and curved back- 

 ward ; also sprinkled over the body there are a number of 

 whitith points. Tj)e chrysalis is placed in a cocoon attached 



to a leaf, and the moth cornea out in about three weeks after- 

 —J. R. S. C. 



PKOXY-VOTING at the BOYAL HORTICDLTDRAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The question of \oting by proxy at the Royal Horticultural 

 Society is again to be raised, and in accordance with a decla- 

 ration made by the President at the last annual meeting, a 

 special meeting is to be called to submit the question to the 

 Fellows. 



We have heard so much lately about the advantages and 

 the disadvantages accruing from the exercise of the privilege 

 of proxy-voting, we think this is the time for deliberately 

 weighing these and endeavouring to come to a rational solution 

 of the question. What strikes us in the first instance is, why 

 the Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society should ask to 

 possess a privilege which no other society possesses. There 

 are many older and as important eocicties as this, in which 

 questions of great moment have been and are discussed, the 

 Fellows of which have never even mooted the question, and 

 surely it is reasonable to suppose that if any advantage arose 

 from the exercise of such a privilege it would long ago have 

 been discovered. It is a remarkable fact, that it is only since 

 the distressing squabbles and contentious betwpen the Royal 

 Horticultural Society and the Royal Commissioners have 

 cropped-up, that anybody thought it worth while to ask for a 

 power which may any day be used for or against the object 

 it was intended to serve. There is no security to either party, 

 and there is no permanent power obtained by the establish- 

 ment of proxy-voting ; but there is a manifest and dangerous 

 wrong which may be and is inflicted where proxy-voting exists. 

 There were instances of it in the late meetings of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, where the privilege is restricted to the 

 lady Fellows. Not a tithe of the lady Fellows, any more than a 

 great majority of the Fellows generally, understood the merits 

 of the questions which were so agitating the Society. They 

 were applied to in urgent terms by representatives of the 

 rival parties to entrust their proxies to them, and, without even 

 the nature of the contention being explained to them, they 

 sent the proxies as requested, in many cases, as we know, 

 without knoviing how they were to be used. In this way a 

 hundred or two of proxies were placed in the hands of a single 

 individual, enabling him to vote just as he pleased. This is a 

 power which ought not to be permitted to exist. 



Instead of extending the privilege it ought to be aboUshed 

 altogether, even in the case of ladies, who are as free to exer- 

 cise their privilege at the meetings as gentlemen are, and who 

 do exercise it very freely when the questions under discussion 

 are of sufficient interest to secure theu' presence. There are 

 well-known instances m which the lady Fellows have exercised 

 this privilege rather too freely. At some of the recent meet- 

 ings, after having given their proxies to gentlemen to exercise 

 the privilege of voting for them, they have been present and 

 voted personally as well — an abuse of privilege and power 

 which we can only account for by believing it was done through 

 ignorance. 



A great deal has been said about the deprivation it is to 

 country Fellows not being able to vote on questions that 

 agitate the Society, without they have the privilege of voting 

 by proxj'. From our knowledge of country Fellows, who, wo are 

 sorry to say, are not nearly so numerous as they were formerly, 

 there ate very few of them who take much interest in those 

 questions which are not purely horticultural that have agitated 

 the Society in these latter days ; and for those of them who 

 do take an interest in them, the mere expense of a return 

 ticket by railway to give theii' vote is as nothing to the ex- 

 pense and time that Fellows in and around the metropolis ex- 

 pend on the affairs of the Society. It rarely happens that 

 a country Fellow need make a visit to London exclusively to 

 exercise his privilege of voting on some important question 

 affecting the interests of the Society, when he may not also at 

 the same time do something for his own interest as well. We 

 know some people who make it an excuse to come to town " to 

 get their hair cut,'' an operation which may very well be per- 

 formed in a country town for a small charge ; but the hair- 

 cutting is only a mild form of saying they have gone on a 

 holiday. 



No doubt there are individual cases in which, from various 

 causes, it may be a hardship for a Fellow to come to town to 

 exercise his privilege of voting ; but there is no rule and no 

 law which equally suits everybody, and so in this, as in all 



