THE ILLUSTRATION HORTICOLE. 



jss all the surrounding 

 the depredations of this 



red that it may be conveyed to our 

 ted . it is impossible to estimate the 



marvellous and serious 

 gs several times during the year. 

 ,ii I or in May, the female lays from 



i.m> of l'J or 13 on the underside 

 ,s the larva 1 are hatched and prey 

 iTiml of seventeen days, after which 

 ntli and are metamorphosed to the 

 he expiration of fourteen days attain 

 eggs follows, continuing 

 in the tame year, the last wintering 



.■>eiiiM.rN is completely stripped in 

 lbstances have been tried to fight 

 »ne only, verdigris , has been found 



efficacious, and here the remedy is worse than the evil, as 

 it is a virulent poison. The sole means of defence left is 

 to collect and burn the Potato haulm as soon as the eggs 

 are deposited. 



The eggs of this Chrysomela may be known by their deep 

 orange-yellow colour. The grub or caterpillar is at first of 

 a dark nearly black colour, changing to a deep red with a 

 slight shading of orange. 



The perfect insect, or beetle itself, is oval in shape, about 

 6 lines long by 4 broad, and of a creamy yellow marked 

 with ten longitudinal black stripes. It has been proved to 

 attack not only the Potato , but likewise several other Sola- 

 naceae, as the Winter cherry, Love apple, Aubergine, etc. 

 It is greatly to be desired that the European Governments 

 should prohibit the importation of American Potatoes, which 

 might bring with them this terrible pest. We have already 

 more than enough of the " American Blight „, (Aphis lani- 

 gera,) the Vine Beetle, *(Phylloxera vastatrix,) and other 

 plagues involuntarily presented to us by our neighbours 

 across the Atlantic. E. A. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



THEE COILOTTIRS OF FHOWEHS. 



y do justice to the refulgent tints found 

 mts. It is not only in the flaming scarlets 

 i falls equally short in any 

 •produce the most modest tints, 

 e mm > at exhibitions of oil and water- 



s portrayed in which the colours seem 

 t if these copies from nature be placed 

 ure itself, there is as much difference 

 ' the two as between harmony and dis- 



thn 



artists can never perfectly get is transpar- 

 ency, and this difficulty is far more insurmountable in the 

 illustrations for a journal like the Floral Magazine. It is as 

 impossible to represent the opal like light as seen passing 

 through the petals of some white Lilies as it would be to paint 

 the rays of light playing about a diamond, or the blaze of fire 

 from the sun itself. The best and purest scarlet colour used 

 by artists, if placed by the side of petals of a field Poppy or 

 scarlet Pelargonium, immediately looks like a piece of clay. 

 The same with crimsons : our best crimson-lakes, when pla- 

 !"'taU ot some Geraniaceae, at once put on a 



Scariete, in Nature, 



i transparent, 



' v V Iiaumi - ;H;t transmit scarlet pigment is unknown. 

 Now d we glaze over one of our artificial scarlets with a wash 

 of pure purple, the painting immediately looks like mud- 

 but what is more common in some scarlet Orchids (as in 

 Masaevallia Veitckii) than to see a vivid scarlet shot with 



brilliant purple? On an examination of the epidermal cells 

 with a microscope , some of the mystery is explained , but any 

 attempt at imitation inevitably ends in failure. The same 

 remarks apply with equal truth to all other tints. — be they 

 purple, blue, green, yellow or orange. It is in the experience 

 of every artist that, on looking at some flower possessing 

 brilliant coloration, the tint be at first took for scarlet, soon 

 appears to him as scarlet-orange ; when, on returning to the 

 plant, it is crimson-scarlet, or a crimson possibly shot with 

 some magenta hue. In every light flowers display new tints, 

 new effects of light and shade , and new beauties , which the 

 artist is indeed fortunate if he can at all catch. Yellows , 

 as found in some Oncidiums, are very pure and lovely, and 

 our chromes come nearest ; but chromes are perfectly opaque, 

 whilst the yellows in the Orchids are as perfectly transparent- 

 It is common for artists to fail in their tints of green, not 

 because of their non-appreciation of the colour, but because 

 no artificial greens can be found or compounded to properly 

 match Nature. Some light coloured Roses are especially diffi- 

 cult; the petals do not appear of the same tint when detached 

 from the flowers, and in matching the hue for imitation, 

 the petals first appear rose, with a blush of transparent 

 scarlet; then a suggestion of salmon colour shows itself or 

 a glimmering of rosy-purple, which in theory seems impos- 

 sible , but in Nature is a reality. These tints , without doubt , 

 all exist in the flower itself, but no artist, except the Great 

 Designer of all flowers, can perfectly reproduce them. 



W. G. S. in " Floral Magazine. „ 



