CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CER. CO’RYLUS. 2027 
filbert orchard, the defect can readily be supplied, when the female blossoms 
(which are easily known by being sessile and solitary, or in small clusters, and 
of a bright scarlet colour) are expanded, by collecting male blossoms from 
wild trees, or any others where they can be spared, and suspending them on 
the upper branches of the tree. The Rev. G. Swayne has proved the utility 
of this practice, both in his own case, and in that of some of his neighbours. 
(Ibid., vol. v. p. 316. ; and Encyc. of Gard., ed. 1835, p. 944.) Rogers remarks 
that the kind of pruning which is found the best for the currant is also the 
best for the filbert. Filberts intended for long keeping, this author observes, 
“should remain on the tree till they are thoroughly ripe; which is easily 
known by their rich brown colour. They should be laid on a dry floor for a 
few days, and afterwards stored in jars of dry sand, where they will keep 
sound for a great length of time.” (Fruit Cultivator, p. 190.) Filberts are 
always kept in the husk, and sold by the pound ; while nuts are kept with- 
out the husk, and sold by the peck or bushel. The Barcelona nuts are im- 
ported in boxes, and kept in them till sold; while the English nuts are 
brought to market in sacks, and kept in them, or on the floors of lofts, or in 
dry cellars, till they are taken out to be exposed for sale. Filberts are 
brought to market, by the growers, in boxes; and are preserved, by the fruit- 
erers, in layers in lofts, or in dry sand in cellars. After some time, the husks 
lose their colour, and appear black and mouldy; when they are slightly fumi- 
gated with sulphur, till their colour is restored. This operation is performed 
by putting them on trays, pierced with holes, and holding them over a chafing- 
dish of charcoal, on which a little powdered sulphur had been thrown when 
the charcoal was red-hot. The tray should be gently shaken, and the filberts 
spread on it very thinly, that the fumes of the sulphur may penetrate all 
round them. 
Insects. The common nut is attacked by numerous species of insects, es- 
pecially by the caterpillars of various moths and butterflies, which feed upon 
its leaves. Amongst these are to be mentioned, as partially (indicated by a 
star), or entirely (indicated by a dagger), feeding upon this tree, * Vanéssa 
C. album (or small tortoiseshell butterfly),* Stadtropus fagi (the lobster 
moth, so named from the remarkable form of the caterpillar, the fore legs 
of which are greatly elongated, and the front part of the body generally car- 
ried erect), * Notodénta Dromedarius, * E’ndromis versicolor (the rare glory 
of Kent moth), * A’glae tai (the tau emperor), + Démas céryli (the nut 
tree tussock), * Césmia trapezina, * Brépha notha, * Hipparchus papili- 
onarius, * Cabéra pusaria, * Harpalyce corylata, * Lozote‘nia corylana, 
* Roxana arcuana L. (Tortrix), + Semidscopis avellanélla (Zinea H. C.). 
The coleopterous insects are confined to the families Curculiénide and Chry- 
somélidez. Amongst the former is especially to be noticed the Balaninus 
nicum Germar (Curcuilio nucum Linn.), the larva of which is the white flesh 
maggot so often found feeding upon the kernel of the nut. (See jig. 1947.) 
The perfect insect is a pretty beetle, about a quarter or a third of an inch 
long, with a very long and slender black horny beak, having the elbowed an- 
tennz inserted near the middle. The body is, or, rather, the elytra, when shut, 
are, somewhat of a triangular form; and the general colour of the insect is 
fine greyish brown, with deeper shades, and irregularly waved bands, The 
female beetle deposits its eggs in the nut whilst in a young and immature 
state, the wound soon healing. This accounts for the larva being found within 
the shell, without any hole being seen by which it might have entered. It 
is said that the passage for the introduction of the egg is made by the female 
drilling through the rind with its rostrum. A single egg, of a brown colour, 
is introduced into each nut, from which the grub is hatched in about a fort- 
night; but it does not attain its full size until the whole of the interior of 
the nut is consumed ; the kernel being the last part which it attacks. At this 
time the shell is found to be filled with black powder, which is nothing but 
the excrement of the larva. When full grown, the time for the fall of the 
nut is arrived; and the larva then, or sometimes while the nut remains on 
