lii JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 



upon the wickerwork of a cane box, received from Japan bj'^ Java 

 (but not opened there). Some of the beetles which had been in- 

 closed in a pill-box remained still alive. The box appeared perfect 

 when unpacked in England, but in the course of three days it pre- 

 sented its present worm-eaten appearance. 



The Rev. F. W. Hope communicated some observations upon a 

 mode of proceeding adopted by C. Eyton, Esq., in Shropshire, which 

 had proved very efficacious in preventing the ravages of the Hop- fly, 

 (Aphis Humuli), and which consisted in charring the hop-poles before 

 they were used. He stated that it had been frequently noticed that 

 when the hop was bound to new poles the injury produced by the 

 fly was greatly diminished ; and he considered that it was evidently 

 owing to the destruction of the parent flies, or the embryos, which 

 passed the winter and spring upon the poles, that the plan now men- 

 tioned had proved so beneficial. He likewise suggested that by 

 dipping the poles in the solution of corrosive sublimate, now so ex- 

 tensively employed, a like eff'ect might also be produced. 



A lengthened discussion then took place upon the preceding sub- 

 jects, in which Messrs. Spence, Children, Sykes, Yarrell, Ogilby, and 

 others joined. 



Mr. Babington stated with respect to the ravages of the turnip 

 flea {Haltica nemorum) that he had sought in vain for the larva of 

 the insect upon the young turnip, and that it was evident that the 

 mischief was the result of the attack of the perfect beetle alone. 



Mr, Ogilby mentioned that he had been informed by Mr. Coke, 

 the distinguished agriculturist of Norfolk, that the richest compost 

 was the most serviceable in securing the turnips from the attacks of 

 the beetle, as it forced the plants to a size beyond their powers of 

 injury in the space of twenty-four hours. Experiments had like- 

 wise been made as to the relative effects of lime and manure, and it 

 has been asceitained that in limed ground the plants were but little 

 attacked, but that it was necessary to re-sow the manured ground. 



Mr. Spence stated a curious circumstance which he had observed 

 near Brussels, where hundreds of acres are employed in the cultiva- 

 tion of Brussels sprouts, and he had seen the Halticce swarming to 

 such an extent upon these plants that a pint could have been col- 

 lected from two or three, and yet they did not materially injure the 

 turnips which were planted between the rows. 



The Rev. F. W. Hope mentioned some circumstances relative to 

 the growth, &c. of silkworms, stating that it was essential that great 

 regularity should be employed in the feeding of the worms at stated 

 periods, the best-fed worms producing the best silk ; moreover, that 



