ANTHOLOMA 



ANTHONOMUS 



Tropical evergreen shrubs ; cuttings of half-ripened 

 wood, in close frame with bottom-heat ; sandy loam and 

 peat. Temperature as for preceding genus. Now re- 

 ferred to Salacia. 



A. elli'pticum (elliptic). 12. Yellow, green. Rio 



Janeiro. 1818. 



,, panicula.' turn (panicled). 12. Yellow, green. Rio 

 Janeiro. 1818. 



ANTHOLO'MA. (From anthos, a flower, and loma, a 

 fringe. Nat. ord. Tiliaceae. Linn. i$-Polyandria, i- 

 Monogynia.) 



A stove evergreen shrub ; cuttings of ripe wood, under 

 glass, in sand and in heat ; light, rich loam. Tempera- 

 ture as for preceding. 



A. monta'na (mountain). N. Caledonia. 1810. 



ANTHOLY'ZA. (From anthos, a flower, and lyssa, 

 rage ; in reference to the opening of the flower like the 

 mouth of an enraged animal. Nat. ord. Irids [Iridaceae]. 

 Linn. ^-Triandria, i-Monoeynia.) 



Bulbs requiring the assistance of a frame or greenhouse 

 in winter, or to be planted deep enough beyond the 

 reach of frost in a dry, sheltered situation ; light, sandy 

 soil ; offsets. Syn. Anisa'nthus. 



A. aihio'pica (Ethiopian). 3. Scarlet and green. June. 



Cape of Good Hope. 1759. 

 ,, bi'color. 2. Flowers nodding, upper half scarlet, 



lower yellowish-green. May. Cape of Good Hope. 



Syn. A. celhiopica minor. 

 ri'ngens. Red, yellow. November. Cape of Good 



Hope. Syn. A. vittigera. 

 ca'ffra. Syn. Anisanthus splendens. 

 Cuno'nia. Syn. Anisanthus Cunonia. 

 ., fuca'ta. 2 to 2j. Bright red-yellow. S. Africa. 



1818. 



,, monta'na. See GLADIOLUS MONTANUS. 

 ,, panicu'lata ma'jor (Gard., 1904, Ixvi. 348). 

 ,, quadrangula'ris. 2. Yellow-red. April. Cape of 



Good Hope. 1760. 

 Schweinfu'rthii (G. C., 1894, xv. 588). Bright red 



and yellow. Abyssinia. 

 spica'ta. See GLADIOLUS MILLERI. 

 ., tubulo'sa (Andr. Rep., t. 174). See WATSONIA 



ALETROIDES. 



ANTHOMY'IA, a genus of fly very injurious to the 

 gardener. The principal species are the following : 



A. cepa'rum (onion-fly). 



In light soils, especially, the onion is liable to suffer 

 from the grub or larva of this fly (Anthomy'ia cepa'rum, 

 or Scaio'phaga cepa'rum of some writers). The gardener 

 who sees his young onions, when about the thickness of 

 a straw, turning yellow, and the leaves sunk down upon 

 the ground, may at once know that they are the victims 

 of this insect. Even when of larger growth the onion is 

 still liable to suffer from its attacks, and even up to the 

 time of the bulb's full growth. If the outer coats of a 

 young onion thus destroyed are stripped off, the grub is 

 at once detected ; but if the onion is older, the grubs 

 are often numerous. In both cases they will be found 

 feeding on the very heart of the onion. The grub varies 

 from about a quarter to half an inch long, is fleshy, 

 shining, whitish, cylindrical, tapering from the head to 

 the tail, and divided into twelve segments. The pores 

 through which it breathes are yellow, and in the first 

 segment. In about three weeks from the time of being 

 hatched it changes into a chestnut-coloured, oval 

 puparium, or case, within which is the real pupa. From 

 this, in about a fortnight, the perfect fly comes forth, 

 of the size of the cross lines, and appearing as magnified 

 in our drawing. This is the female, and is entirely of a 

 pale, ashy colour, covered with black bristles. The male 

 has a black line down the middle of the abdomen. The 

 antennae and legs are black ; the wings are transparent, 

 almost colourless, but iridescent pink and green. The 

 female inserts her eggs within the leaf-sheaths of the 

 onion, close to the ground. She continues to lay her 

 eggs from May to September, producing several broods 

 during that period. The latest brood remains in the pupa 

 state through the winter, so that all old, decaying store- 

 onions should be burnt up as spring advances. The best 

 preventive of this grub is to sprinkle gas-lime between 



the rows of seeding-onions, its fumes being offensive to 

 the fly. It may be well, also, to try spreading powdered 

 charcoal among them in a similar way, for the fly is said 

 to deposit her eggs in this powder as readily as in the 

 onion-plants. 



A. bra'ssica, cabbage-fly, says Mr. Curtis, is found 

 through the summer, and is the parent of a maggot 

 which has been known to lay waste whole fields of cab- 

 bages, by diseasing the roots on which they feed, as well 

 as at the base of the stalk. Successive generations are 

 feeding until November ; the latter families lying in the 

 pupa state through the winter, and most probably some 

 of the flies survive that season, secreted in holes and 

 crevices. When the cabbage-leaves assume a lead or 

 yellow colour, and droop in midday from the effect of 

 the sun, such plants, being diseased, should be taken up, 

 carried away, and burnt, and brine or lime put into the 

 holes. Gardeners, in some instances, have collected 

 large quantities of the pupae from the roots by drawing 

 away the earth. 



The male of A . bra'ssiccz is dark, bright grey, with black 

 bristles ; there is a black stripe half-way down the middle 

 of the thorax, and a curved one on each side ; the body 

 has a more decided black stripe down the centre, and the 

 segments are marked by a line of the same colour : legs 

 and antennae blackish ; wings a little smoky. The 

 female is pale, ashy-grey ; the eyes remote, with a dark 

 chestnut-coloured stripe on the crown ; the wings are 

 similar in tint to those of the foregoing species, but the 

 insects are considerably smaller. Gardeners' Chronicle. 



A. lactu'cce, lettuce-fly. Mr. Curtis says the larvaa 

 make their appearance in August, but are abundant in 

 September ; they closely resemble those from the cabbage 

 and turnips, being of a yellowish-white colour, tapering 

 towards the head, which is pointed, and armed with two 

 short, black claws at the nose. These maggots live in the 

 involucra of different varieties of lettuce, feeding upon 

 the seeds and receptacle ; and when these are consumed, 

 they wriggle themselves out backward, either to enter 

 another seed-vessel or fall to the ground and become 

 pupae. 



When the seed-stems are gathered and dying, the larvae 

 change to pupae, called shucks, in Surrey, being bright 

 chestnut-coloured, oval cases, which are rough, when 

 examined under a lens, with two minute tubercles at the 

 head, and two hooks, and a few other tubercles at the 

 tail. In the course of May a few of the pupae hatch ; 

 they have, however, been observed as early as April, 

 and as late as July. The male is intense black, clothed 

 with short hair and bristles ; the eyes reddish-brown, 

 and meeting above ; face inclining to chestnut-colour, 

 with a bright spot of the same on the crown ; the fore 

 part of the trunk bears four varying whitish stripes ; 

 the body is ashy-grey, the segments blackish, at the base 

 a deep black;' wings two, stained with black, and 

 beautifully iridescent; the base and poisers ochreous, 

 the nervures of the wings pitchy. 



The female is entirely ashy-grey, and less bristly ; the 

 eyes not meeting on the crown, with a bright chestnut- 

 coloured stripe between them ; body oval, the apex cone- 

 shaped ; horns and legs blackish ; wings and nervures 

 lighter than in the male, which it equals in size. Ibid, 



ANTHONOMUS POMO'RUM. Apple Weevil. This 

 insect shelters itself beneath the scurfy bark during the 

 winter, awaiting the return of spring to renew its attacks 

 upon the blossom-buds. " This insect," says Mr. Curtis, 

 " commits great devastation in apple-orchards, by de- 

 stroying the stamens, pistil, and receptacle of the flower. 

 As soon as the blossom-buds swell, the female beetle 

 begins to deposit her eggs. In calm weather, she selects 

 a good bud, and makes a hole in it with her rostrum 

 (long beak) ; she fixes herself at the hole, lays one egg, 

 and goes on till she has deposited a considerable number 

 of eggs in separate buds. The bud continues to swell, 

 and the petals (flower-leaves) nearly expand, when sud- 

 denly the growth ceases and the petals wither, and 

 assume a shrivelled appearance. If one of these flower- 

 buds be examined when nearly expanded, a small, white 

 grub, with a black head, will be found in the centre, which 

 begins to assume a yellowish colour ; a few days later 

 the grub will be found either wholly or partially changed 

 to a beetle, and, should there be a small hole on the side 

 of the receptacle, the beetle will have escaped, the trans- 

 formation from the egg to the perfect state not having 



