November 18, 1875. J JOITRNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOlTAOE GABDENEE. 



413 



ll.'ricart de Tbnry, so called ; properly I believe the Marqniae 

 ae la Tour Maubourg, and worth recording.— S. T. 



STAPELIAS. 

 Of late years the public taste has lieen of a somewhat ad- 

 vanced type in floricultural matters, and many old favourite 

 garden plants have been forgotten or greatly neglected. In the 

 period preceding the rapid and ever-increasing stream of new 

 varieties of popular flowering plants hothouses were filled with 

 plants which are seldom 

 met with now. Amongst 

 these were the Stapelias. 

 We once found them al- 

 most everywhere, but wo 

 now seldom see them ex- 

 cept in collections where 

 Buoculeut plants are still 

 cherished. There is, how- 

 ever, a visible change in 

 the taste for flowers at the 

 present day, and beauty 

 of form is receiving atten- 

 tion, as well as colouring 

 and the amenability of a 

 plant to rapid propaga- 

 tion. This is seen in the 

 increased demand for suc- 

 culent plants, which have 

 risen so rapidly in public 

 favour. 



Plants which are quaint 

 and distinct in habit are 

 now being sought after, 

 and well are they worthy 

 of the search. The rich 

 collection of these plants 

 at Kew never had so many 

 admirers as they have 

 now, and the noble as- 

 semblage of them in the 

 houses of Mr. Peacock 

 at Hammersmith have a 

 greater value in the hor- 

 ticultural world than they 

 ever had before. This 

 gentleman is entitled to 

 the thanks of all lovers of 

 rare and curious plants 

 by the preservation of his 

 collection, and especially 

 for his liberality in plac- 

 ing a contingent from 

 them for public enjoy- 

 ment at the Alexandra 

 Palace. This extremely 

 valuable loan to the public 

 will do much to popular- 

 ise these curious plants, 

 and Mr. Peacock even now 

 has a reward in finding 

 that his plants are greatly 

 admired and his gener- 

 osity appreciated. 



The Stapelias are succulent plants from the Cape of Good 

 Hope. They are grotesque in form, and the flowers of many 

 of them are singularly beautiful, but they emit a carrion-like 

 scent. So powerful is this odour that the common blow-fly is 

 deceived by it, and will often deposit eggs in the flower, as if 

 mistaking it for decaying animal matter. 



These plants are easily propagated by cuttmgs or branches, 

 which should be msertedin AprU, keeping them dry for a week 

 and then carefully watering them. After the plants are rooted 

 they are best placed in the open air in the full sun, all'ording 

 them a hot sheltered position. In September they must be 

 placed under glass, and during the winter months they cannot 

 have too Ught a position. Many succulent plants are ruined 

 by storing them away in dark and unsuitable places durin-^the 

 winter months. In thewinter they do not require water, but thev 

 do require every ray of light that can be afforded them. In the 

 summer they need to be watered freely. The soil best suited for 

 them 13 three parts of sound loam and one part of broken bricks 



The species are very numerous, but all of them are curious 

 and ornamental both in habit of plant and form and colour of 

 the flowers. S. variegata is one of the most striking, the 

 flowers being pale yellow veined with brown. The engraving, 

 fig. il-j, gives a truthful representation of this singular family 

 of plants.— J. 



THE PEAB-TKEE SLUG. 

 The current number of the " Entomologist " contains a life- 

 history of the Pear-tree 

 slug from the pen of its 

 editor, extending to nearly 

 eleven pages of that 

 journal. It is very not- 

 able that the history of 

 this annoying and almost 

 disgusting enemy of the 

 orchard was first studied 

 in America, where Pro- 

 fessor Peck prepared a 

 valuable memoir, which 

 was published at Boston, 

 and received a gold medal 

 with fifty guineas in cash. 

 This was nearly eighty 

 years since, and subse- 

 quently a portion of this 

 memoir was introduced 

 by Harris into his " Trea- 

 tise on Insects Injurious 

 to Vegetation." Some 

 slight account of it, how- 

 ever, had been given by 

 the illustrious IliJaumur, 

 and other continental ob- 

 servers followed in his 

 wake, while in our own 

 land Professor Westwood 

 has chronicled various 

 particulars. As we learn 

 from Mr. Newman's hfe- 

 history now before us the 

 identity of the English 

 with the American species 

 is questioned by some, 

 the habits at least show 

 a marked similarity. Our 

 author does not debate 

 the point whether there 

 is any truth in the as- 

 sumption that the slug 

 reached us from America. 

 The native tree, Mr. New- 

 man asserts, is the Sloe. 

 In some districts near 

 London this season it ap- 

 pears to be taking ex- 

 tensively to the Hawthorn 

 hedges, which are much 

 to be pitied, seeing they 

 are so liable to the at- 

 tacks of insect enemies of 

 several orders. From the 

 article referred to we extract a paragraph or two of special 

 I interest. Concerning the imago or perfect fly (Blennooampa 

 Pyri), it is merely necessary to state that it belongs to the 

 , group of the saw-fly. The head, antennas, body, and legs are 

 I a liingy black, and a streak of that hue crosses the trans- 

 parent wings. Upon the least alarm the insects feign death, 

 [ and folding themselves together drop to the ground. Tho 

 females make an abrasion on a leaf or leafstalk with tho saw ; 

 and the egg, as occasionally happens amongst insects, has an 

 elastic shell, allowing of expansion ere the grub emerges. 



Concerning the grub or slug Mr. Newman writes : " They are 

 first observable at the beginning of July, then of course very 

 small, and a succession continues to make its appearance 

 throughout August and September, and even far into October. 

 They glide with extreme slowness over the surface of the leaf, 

 partly by means of claspers, fourteen in number, which are 

 situated in the under side of the abdomen ; in addition to these 

 there are six articulated legs. Except when crawling or feeding 



Fig. 95.— Stapelia vaeiegata 



