276 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ September 23, 187f. 



stances, and is therefore hardly to be classed with our un- 

 gnestiouable foes. 



Leavicg these I must make passing mention of the mysterious 

 tribes of minute creatures classed under the title of Thysanu- 

 radffi, which have also received the Euglish appellation of the 

 "Spring-tails;" incorrect as it appears, all these are not 

 furnished with tails, and therefore they cannot spring with 

 them or wag them. By the way, friendly reader, do not confuse 

 these with the Thysanoptera, not so unlike in size, but true 

 insects, though of peculiar habit, about which I shall have 

 more to say. An unfortunate race of beings these ; no one 

 wishes to own them. Entomologists stand at the door of 

 their class and cry " No admittance," for the Thysanuridtc, 

 though six-legged, have differences of structure which separate 

 them from the insects, though a few eccentric individuals have 

 considered that these diminutive creatures had a likeness to 

 the larvai of Neuroptera, only they never get beyond larva- 

 hood. In vain have others tried to connect them with the 

 Aeari or the Myriapods, and they remain a square group that 

 we cannot fit into any of our round holes ; somewhere between 

 the mites and the insects proper may be probably their position 

 at last. "If they're not insects they did ought to be," re- 

 marked a gardener to whom some were shown, not meaning by 

 that a compliment, as "insect" with him was synonymous 

 with whatever was unpleasant and troublesome. Sundry 

 species have been called " Scale Insects" — an ill-chosen name 

 in both its halves, since there are other scale insects, yet it 

 is so far correct as to the external aspect of the Thysanurada;, 

 since they are scaly. As an illustration I do not know that I 

 can select a better one than Lepisma saccharina, a creature 

 visible to the unassisted eye, and not a stranger to careful 

 housekeepers and cooks, who detest its sneaking ways. To 

 this the vernacular name of " Fish Scale" has been given from 

 its slippery body, and though specimens of it generally reside 

 in cupboards and odd corners in the basements of our houses, 

 the Fieh-scale also visits upper rooms, and in libraries, especi- 

 ally where the walls are damp, it makes sad havoc amongst 

 books and manuscripts. From drawers, too, containing loose 

 papers thousands of these little pests have been shaken out. 

 Some Thysanurada) are terrestrial in habit, living in loose 

 earth, or else spending their brief existence in running over 

 the surface of the ground. Mr. M'Intire, in his admirable 

 sketch of the history of the group, notes with regard to the 

 genus Smynthurus as follows : — " I once saw when a friend 

 was potting-out some Geraniums that the empty fiower-pots 

 were made a promenade of by thousands of a tiny black 

 species, which looked as if some chimney-pot in the neigh- 

 bourhood had favoured the locality with an abundant shower 

 of smuts. They were so nimble when I approached to capture 

 them that I only got a few." These are devoid of scales, with 

 globular bodies, and a forked springer. A species of Degeeria 

 is also common about pots in greenhouses, and other species 

 frequent moss or get under the bark of trees ; it is very likely, 

 too, should you see a mioroscopist turning over brickbats that 

 he is in the hunt for some of the Thysanuradffi. According to 

 one modern philosopher the individuals belonging to the genus 

 Podura were principally designed to furnish food for spiders. 



Coming now to the consideration of the various orders of 

 insects, it should be noted in the first place that there is a 

 great difference in the number these contain. Some of them, 

 the Coleopterous order for instance, present us with a long 

 muster-roll, like a modern regiment in the German army, 

 while the meagre list in one or two rather resembles the turn- 

 out of some of the attenuated regiments in the petty German 

 States of former times. Working upwards we of course com- 

 mence with the order Apt era, and find in Britain at least that 

 we have nothing to place in it but the group of fleas, creatures, 

 it might be argued, of very little importance to the gardener. 

 Stop a moment, I am not quite sure of that. It might be also 

 said that, since few gardeners escape the attacks of fleas (un- 

 less they are endued with the peculiar cuticles the fleas wo'n't 

 touch, for some such cuticles there are), they are thus more 

 fully kept on the alert and watchful for the parasitic enemies 

 which affect the plants under their guardianship. " A fellow- 

 feeling makes us wondrous kind" perhaps, and, if a certain 

 poet is to be believed, a shrub covered with galls and blotches 

 produced by insects is as much to be pitied as a man who has 

 been repeatedly bitten by the saltatory insect. And this is not 

 aU. It is possible that the larva; of the flea not unusually feed 

 on decaying animal substances, such as wool, feathers, or flesh, 

 therefore aiding in the disintegration and decompocition of 

 substances valuable as fertilisers. That is my belief, and I 



observe that even those who propound the theory that the 

 parent flea disgorges a provision of dried blood for the young 

 larviB, also admit that they are not entirely nurtured thus. 

 One author says that the mother returns to feed them, which 

 I much doubt, and I think that anyone acquainted with the 

 irregular wanderings of a flea will not give any of these insects 

 credit for being able to return to the same spot they have 

 quitted, unless it be by accident. Cases are on record where 

 fleas have appeared in hosts in untenanted outhouses, but I do 

 not suppose that this is to be taken as affording any proof that, 

 like an odorous and even more detested insect, the larvaj can 

 thrive upon old wood. 



The flea, so some assert, is only a degraded fly that has lost 

 its wings and taken to leaping ; and, as other specalators sug- 

 gest — why I cannot tell — that most fleas are of a melancholic 

 disposition, it is perhaps because they are apt to repine over 

 their seeming descent in the scale of life, so different from 

 what Darwinian views might have encouraged them to hope, 

 were fleas as "learned" as they have been shown to be 

 " industrious." 



The head of the flea is remarkable for the shortness of the 

 antennffl and the prominence and size of the eyes. From the 

 virulent inflammation which ©ccasionally attends a flea-bite 

 one would almost imagine the insect had the power of emitting 

 a poisonous fluid, but as yet our microsoopists have detected 

 no traces of poison glands, though within the rostrum there is 

 a formidable array of lancets, which can cut or saw accord- 

 ing to circumstances. The body of this insect is flattened and 

 horny, hence the difficulty there is in crushing it, and the leap- 

 ing is aided by the muscles of the body, not depending solely 

 on the strong array of muscles in the hind pair of legs, which 

 are also spiny. The pale footless larvas of the flea resemble 

 that of the gnat, and when full-fed each spins a separate silken 

 cocoon. 



An eastern tradition tells us that Noah on his emergence 

 from the ark produced fleas and all the other creatures that 

 prey on human blood by burning a serpent. Were this so, it 

 is evident that Adam, our great horticultural predecessor, had 

 a happy immunily from such parasitic foes. — J. E. S. C. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 We have recently seen growing in the garden of Mr. Orm- 

 son, the eminent horticultural builder, at his residence The 

 Bush, Walton-on-Thames, some remarkable fruits of the 

 Bakrington Peach. The Peaches have now been gathered, 

 and many of them weighed 9 ozs. each, some 'JA ozs., and one 

 weighed 11 ozs. These splendid fruits were produced by an 

 old tree on a wall only (i feet in height. The soil is light and 

 aandy, and the more credit therefore attaches to their pro- 

 duction. The fruit crop generally in this garden is very large. 

 Mr. Ormson has erected a fine vinery, and the Vines are of 

 great promise; the bunches of iladresfield Court, but for care- 

 less handling in their early stages, would have been worthy of 

 a place at the best exhibitions. The management of this 

 garden is now in the hands at a gkilfal man, and good results 

 may be anticipated. 



The Rev. George Meares Drought, writing from Ireland, 



gays : — " For three years I have lived in a town, and during 

 that time my sitting-room has been free fhoji flies — three 

 or four only walking about my breakfast-table, while all my 

 neighbours' rooms were crowded. I often congratulated myself 

 on my escape, but never knew the reason of it until two days 

 ago. I then had occasion to move my things to another house, 

 I remaining on for two days longer Among other things moved 

 were two boxes of Geraniums and Calceolarias, which always 

 stood in my windows, the windows being always open to the 

 full extent top and bottom. The boxes were not gone half an 

 hour before my room was as full of flies as all those around 

 me, and I am now writing at my breakfast-table with twelve 

 dead bodies in the slop-basin, and everything on the table 

 crowding with fresh arrivals. This, to me, is a new discovery, 

 and perhaps it may serve to encourage others in that which is 

 always a source of pleasure, and now proves also to be a source 

 of comfort — window gardening."— (2'tmcs.) 



We have received from Mr. Batters, The Gardens, 



Chilworth Manor, Eomsey, Hants, specimens of shrubs, show- 

 ing how they " grow, flower, and fruit on a dry and gravelly 

 soil 200 feet above the sea level." The specimens sent of 

 Laurels, Hollies, Bay, Berberis, etc., are remarkable examples 

 o! health and fruitfalnosB. The beriios of the common Laurel 



